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

BMW ready to shift small coupes, convertibles to even-number nameplates

Reports in Europe say that BMW is planning a shake-up in the naming strategy for its smaller coupes and convertibles, as well as planning to shift its 1-series cars onto a front-drive platform. The nameplate shake-up will have coupe and convertible variants of the 1-series become the 2-series, while coupe and convertible variants of the 3-series will become the 4-series. The changeover is expected to start in 2013, according to a report on the Web site of Car magazine.

Honda NSX: 2013 Detroit Auto Show

A new version of the Honda NSX Concept (Acura NSX) has been revealed at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show, this time with an interior. But last year, at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, Honda turned up with the first concept of the new NSX, complete with a confession that this NSX wasn’t a done deal for production, but a work in progress. That work in progress is now back at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show and comes with a few tweaks to the styling but, more importantly, the first idea of how the interior will look when the new NSX does arrive in a couple of years (probably).

Now the Germans say no to Volvo

As we’ve reported in the last few weeks, Ford has been trying its best to offload Volvo, the last of its ‘Prestige’ Euro marques. The Chinese looked to be the best bet, but it seems that that is going nowhere at the moment (the Chinese are probably waiting for Ford to get in to an even deeper mess with the hope of picking up Volvo for peanuts) and now its seems that Ford’s fire-sale has drawn more blanks. Now the Germans turn down the chance to own Volvo Der Spiegel reports that Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) boss Dieter Zetsche has revealed that Daimler has turned down the chance to buy Volvo, and has also revealed that BMW has had a good look, and reached the same decision.