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

Beijing motor show: China means (auto) business

By Guy Bird Motor Shows 22 April 2008 05:34 Only a fool wandering around this week's Beijing motor show would still dismiss China as some also-ran automotive market full of rip-off designs and outdated ‘new’ cars based on old Western designs. While all of those clichés were still in evidence at the Chinese auto show, the copycat mentality is much less obvious than even a year ago at last year's Shanghai show. And every western car exec CAR spoke to was in awe of the upward sales trajectory that means China is still the place to do business in 2008.Yes, there are still some odd automotive fish, usually small ‘three-box’ saloon in shape such as the Chinese market only Citroen C-Elysee and the VW Lavida (a Jetta/Bora Plus car with less style).

10 days left in the CDN - Opel/Vauxhall Interactive Design Competition

The Car Design News - Opel/Vauxhall Interactive Design Competition has entered its final two weeks, but it's still not too late to submit an entry and impress the judges with your vision of a Lounge in Motion. The project uploads so far - on the dedicated competition site - are full of fantastic mood boards and thematic directions and generally contain some great ideas. Judges, industry professionals, design students and members of the public have been commenting and directing those who have uploaded work to date.

McLaren London: Open for business

McLaren London - open for business Almost exactly a year on from McLaren’s announcement that the UK will have three McLaren dealers – London, Birmingham and Manchester – the first of those dealers, McLaren London, opened for business yesterday. Operated by Jardine Motors (who may be more familiar as Lancaster), Mclaren London is the ground floor face of One Hyde Park, the mega-bucks apartment block you may best know as the building where £1 billion of apartments have been sold – but no one has moved in. Ron Dennis is probably banking on some of the owners of those apartments – including a Ukrainian Oligarch said to have paid £136 million for his apartment – popping downstairs to take a look at what McLaren has on offer – and bringing along a friend or three.