Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

The scramble for scarce tires

North American automakers are struggling with a nagging shortage of tires, caused in part by tire plant closings and rising demand for low-volume specialty tires. Automakers are paying much higher prices -- double-digit percentage increases from a year ago -- as tire makers gain pricing power. "We have been bombarded from every side for additional tires, and we can't keep up," said David O'Donnell, Continental Tire's vice president of original equipment in the Americas.

Pioneer App Radio officially unveiled

Pioneer has officially unveiled the App Radio that AutoWeek told you about earlier this month. Now that it's willing to talk, Pioneer claims that the radio and audio system is "the first in-vehicle product designed to utilize the processing power, storage capacity, network connectivity and apps of the iPhone and iPod Touch as the primary source for its information and entertainment capabilities." That does sound a lot like what Mini Connected and, in a more platform-agnostic sense, Ford Sync are doing. Pioneer said it couldn't speak to the similarity of those systems, but Ted Cardenas, director of marketing for Pioneer's car-electronics division, briefed us on installation of the device and what Pioneer is doing to minimize driver distraction.

Land Rover Freelander 2 hits 250,000. But is this the zenith?

250,000 Freelander 2s built It’s the car that started the whole compact SUV / softroader love affair back in 1997. Thankfully, the Freelander has come a long way since then, and the Land Rover Freelander 2 is a properly good car. So good is the Freelander 2 that Land Rover are celebrating the 250,000th Freelander 2 to roll off the production line today at Halewood.