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

Photo of the week (2009): Porsche Panamera in a lift

By Ben Pulman First Official Pictures 21 April 2009 14:22 CAR’s editor Phil McNamara is in China this week, reporting on everything weird and wonderful at the Shanghai motor show. But when he called to say he was pouring over Porsche’s Panamera 425 metres up in the air, we started to think that maybe the jetlag was getting to him. Apparently not – on the evening before the opening of the Shanghai show, a select group of the world’s automotive media was invited to a preview of the Panamera on the 94th floor of the Shanghai World Financial Centre.

Volvo P1800 turns 50

Volvo's sporty little number - the P1800 For those of us old enough to think in black and white, the Volvo P1800 conjures up long-forgotten images of The Saint and Roger Moore. For those too young to remember, the Saint was Roger Moore’s television audition for James Bond, but the real star of the show was the Volvo P1800. Even in the early 1960s, Volvo was renowned for its solid, safe and respectable cars.

Michelin Challenge Design 2007: The not so ugly truth about rising vehicle safety standards

Can cars be safe and beautiful at the same time? That may not have been the case a few decades ago when automakers were forced to hang those big, ugly so-called federal bumpers off the ends of their vehicles.  With vehicle safety standards on the rise around the globe are designers today feeling a little '70s deja vu when it comes to meeting the challenges of making cars safe as well as more fuel efficient? "(Back then) we said it was the end of automotive styling," says Patrick Le Quement, senior vice president for corporate design at Renault and one of the world's most influential automotive designers.