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

GM to double size of battery lab

General Motors says it will spend $8 million to double the size of its Global Battery Systems Lab, which the company claims is the largest and most technologically advanced automotive battery lab in the United States. GM says the expansion will speed up the development of hybrid and electric vehicles, such as the upcoming Chevrolet Volt, by improving on-site testing of battery cells and systems. When finished, the lab will be 30,000 square feet bigger than it is now, for a 63,000-square-foot total.

Land Rover Discovery Sport

With the launch of the Evoque, Range Rover and Range Rover Sports, Land Rover has sufficiently bolstered its range of high-profit 'luxury' family of vehicles. Now, the Discovery Sport has been unveiled as the first of its renewed 'leisure' models. As these pictures show, the boundaries between the luxury and leisure ranges lie pretty close together, with the new Sport drawing heavily on the Evoque's design themes: a few degrees of approach angle are traded for rounder, far-less utilitarian bumpers; the character lines are more deeply cut into the bodysides and rise more steeply, and the C- and D-pillars are much faster than the outgoing Freelander/LR2's.

Whos Where: Ken Okuyama appointed Creative Director at Pininfarina

The talented Japanese designer Ken Okuyama, who penned the Pininfarina Enzo and 'Rossa' during his days at Pininfarina Studi e Ricerche, is going back to the famous Italian coachbuilder, after completing his experience as Chair of the Transportation Design Department at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He is expected back as Creative Director of the Pininfarina Spa group as of May 10th. There he will be reporting, as before his departure, to Lorenzo Ramaciotti, Executive Vice President Design .