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

GM's green future: EVs, plug-in hybrids

General Motors' future green-car efforts will focus on plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles rather than conventional hybrid powertrains, product chief Mary Barra said Wednesday. Barra said GM has narrowed its future development emphasis in an effort to defend its leadership position attained with the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid. GM will unveil an electric Spark minicar in late November at the Los Angeles auto show.

Concept Car of the Week: Mercedes F200 Imagination (1996)

The F200 Imagination was designed at Mercedes' Advanced Design studio in Tokyo, in response to the question 'does the car of the future still have a steering wheel and foot-operated controls?' Take a look at the car's interior and the answer was fairly emphatic, as the steering wheel and pedals were replaced by joysticks, called Sidesticks, that operated the throttle, brakes and steering by wire. There were two sticks to choose from, one on the left of the cabin and one in the center console. However, both had the same function – push forward to accelerate, left or right to turn, and back to brake – so either of the front passengers could control the car.

2013 Toyota RAV4 infotainment technology

Since Super Bowl ads gave the public a good look at the all-new exterior of the 2013 Toyota RAV4 , we thought we'd dig deeper and give you an idea of what to expect inside this quasi-SUV. What we learned was that life inside of the 2013 RAV4 will be very similar to what it was like in the 2012 model, at least with respect to technology, because none of the infotainment technology has been upgraded. Toyota did upgrade in-dash technology for 2012 model-year vehicles, so the existing features shouldn't be all that outdated in 2013 models such as the RAV4.