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

Honda readies its jet airplane -- for real this time

Honda would like to remind you that while journalists have spent the last few years fretting whether the Big H has "lost its way," the company has quietly launched, shelved, resurrected, and all but waited out its plan to dominate the business-jet skies, which we are to assume are less friendly than United's. The HA-420 HondaJet has been kicking around for more than 10 years now, but the very first production-ready plane just rolled off the assembly line in Greensboro, N.C., this week -- and, Honda promises, the $4.5 million business jet should be delivered in the second quarter of next year. Honda began taking orders for the jet in 2006, but the long recession squashed the market for private jets.

Michelin Challenge Design 2009 preview

Michelin has released details of three more contenders which will be displayed at the Michelin Challenge Design exhibit at the 2009 NAIAS next week. The stand will feature 11 scale models and 24 two-dimensional drawings that were selected by a jury of top automotive designers. Among these are Raquel Aparicio’s Soft Vehicle, Fernando Gomez’s Packard concept and Niels Grubak Iversen and David Goncalves’ Phoenix concept.

VW Cross Coupe Concept goes diesel

The VW Cross Coupe Concept goes diesel - and red Volkswagen are bringing the Cross Coupe Concept to Geneva, but even though it looks the same it now gets a diesel-powered hybrid powertrain. At the end of last year we saw the VW Cross Coupe Concept at the Tokyo Motor Show, an ‘Urban’ Crossover come SUV Concept from Volkswagen that looked as if it had stolen every current design trend and morphed it in to one concept. Oddly, it worked.