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

Peugeot 308

These are the first pictures of the forthcoming Peugeot 308 that replaces the 307.  The car will compete predominantly in the lower medium European C-sector along with the Opel Astra, Ford Focus, the class leading Volkswagen Golf, and its PSA sibling: the Citroen C4. The 308 is expected to make its public debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September and be available at launch in 3 and 5 door hatchback body styles with other variants including an estate to follow. The design builds on the tall proportions established by its predecessor and some of the features that the 207 introduced as well as appearing to have been influenced by some Mercedes designs.

Fiat 500 gets 3-star safety rating from NHTSA

The slow-selling 2012 Fiat 500 now has another obstacle in its sales path: It has been tagged by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration with a three-star safety rating, the lowest of any new model tested so far. The two-door subcompact received four stars from NHTSA for frontal crash and rollover accidents but received just two stars for side-impact crash safety, the agency announced on its Web site, safercar.gov. The tests gave the car a combined overall safety rating of three stars, NHTSA reported.

Honda cutting production in Swindon again – 500 jobs at risk

Honda is cutting another 500 jobs in Swindon It’s only a year since Honda announced 800 job cuts at Swindon (which eventually was 550) and now they’re about to cut a further 500 as weak demand – particularly in Europe – sees the Swindon plant producing just half the cars it could. The plan is to cut shifts from 3 to 2 a day, which will result in the loss of 340 permanent jobs and 160 temporary ones, and production will be centred on just one production line to increase efficiency and flexibility. The Swindon Plant – which builds the Civic, Civic Tourer, CR-V and Jazz (and the Civic Type-R from next year) – has been hard hit by the slump in European sales in the last five years and, despite still strong UK sales, production levels of 120,000 cars a year – just half of the Swindon capacity – are not enough to sustain the current staffing levels.