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

Baby Rolls revealed as boss leaves

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 14 March 2008 07:33 CAR today reveals the look of the new 'baby' Rolls-Royce - just as it is announced that boss Ian Robertson will head back to BMW as Munich's new sales and marketing boss. The new model due in 2010 will nudge the most famous of luxury brands downmarket nearer upper-echelon Merc S-classes, but the 49-year-old chief exec won't be around to see the launch of the landmark model.The baby Rolls-RoyceThe Phantom family has now grown to three models, after the Coupe was unveiled at this month's Geneva Motor Show to join the Drophead Coupe. And in 2010 Rolls-Royce will launch RR4 - the new £170,000 baby Rolls to stretch the brand 'downmarket' and plug the gap between cheaper Bentley Continentals and the super-luxury models from Rolls and Maybach costing nearer a quarter of a million pounds.It will be longer than the next-generation LWB BMW 7-series, upon whose mechanicals RR4 is based.

Jaguar ramps up interest for the XF Sportbrake

Jaguar XF Sportbrake - now you can register your interest The Jaguar XF Sportbrake (XF Estate) has been teased a couple of times so far, but now Jaguar are taking registrations of interest for the new XF. It’s not huge news that the Jaguar XF Sportbrake is being dangled again, but it’s an indication that the launch of the XF Estate is getting closer. When Jaguar first officially confirmed the XF Sportbrake back in November, they did so by creating a new Twitter account – @sportbrake  - from which they’ve now acquired around 1,000 followers and, apart from responding to followers’ Tweets, have been regaling us with enigmatic Tweets like ‘The House in the Trees reflects nature in its balanced curves’ and ‘… few people achieve it… have you?’ Jaguar followed that up with a ‘Santa Special’ with Father Christmas loading presents in the back of the XF Sportbrake – still camouflaged and still with ‘@sportbrake’ plastered on the side.

Autodesk European Automotive Days 2008

The 2008 Autodesk European Automotive Days conference was held last week in Munich, bringing together 200 automotive design and visualization experts. Autodesk presented their strategy and vision for industrial design, with an emphasis on 'digital prototyping', where even at the concept stage the digital model is treated not just as a set of surfaces, but is integrated within the engineering process as as a functional digital prototype, with the aim to eventually replace physical models entirely. There was also a recognition that traditional techniques continue to have an important place alongside digital workflows, as the workflows and technologies continue to evolve.