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

Crunch watch Mar 09: the auto industry in crisis

By Ben Pulman and Tim Pollard Motor Industry 31 March 2009 13:48 Tuesday 31 March 2009• Porsche said that its earnings before tax rose to €7.3 billion in the six months to the end of January – including a €6.8bn windfall from its VW share options (Financial Times)• Fritz Henderson, GM's president and chief operating officer, will step up to replace Rick Wagoner, who was ousted on Sunday as CEO of General Motors (Financial Times)• President Obama is essentially CEO-in-chief of GM – despite not owning a single cent of stock, says Detroit News commentator (Detroit News)• German chancellor Angela Merkel gives assurances that any would-be investors in GM's European arm will be given state support. Opel is asking for €3.3 billion in aid – and up to 25,000 jobs in Germany depend on it, with up to 300,000 jobs across Europe including Saab and Vauxhall (BBC News)Monday 30 March 2009• General Motors' chief executive Rick Wagoner has been ordered to resign by US president Barack Obama with immediate effect. It's part of Obama's administration's critique of GM and Chrysler's turnaround plans – he's understood to be unhappy with the plans submitted (BBC News)• New GM non-executive chairman Kent Kresa has admitted that at the company's next general meeting it will have 'a majority of new directors' (General Motors)• Chrysler will receive US government aid for the next 30 days, but the Obama administration has said that if the company cannot secure a tie-up with the Fiat Group within that time period it will not receive any more money from the taxpayers and could go into liquidation.

Mopar celebrates 50th anniversary of Gen II 426 Hemi

Since its introduction into NASCAR in the 1960s, the 426 Hemi has been a popular powerplant for power-hungry customers across the Mopar spectrum. The 426 cubic-inch brute dwelled under the sheetmetal hoods of cars like the Dodge Coronet, Plymouth GTA, Plymouth Road Runner and even the Plymouth Barracuda. Latest generations of the 426 feature an aluminum block, two-piece rear main seal and a four-bolt main.

2011 BMW 6 Series Convertible: First photo

First photo of the 2011 BMW 6 Series Convertible We got the reveal of the BMW 6-Series Concept at the Paris Motor Show last week (well, the car BMW are calling the 6-Series Concept. If you believe that) and as far as we can work out, BMW has a very small window to make the 6-Series ‘Concept’ in to a production car. Our sources tell us it’s due to go in to production in March 2011 – that’s just five months away.