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

Video: Jaguar's Julian Thomson on the importance of design values

Jaguar's Head of Advanced Design, Julian Thomson, appeared at this month's PSFK Conference in London giving a talk on design values. Thomson's talk, ‘Concepting Dreams, Making Reality Happen', dealt with questions of creating a design story as well as how Jaguar uses the value of its heritage while keeping things original and new. Thomson – the man behind the 2010 C-X75 and the recently revealed F-Type – said, "You can't get a good design story if you don't look at your heritage, where you came from, where your values came from." He went on to discuss the ‘sad years of Jaguar', from around 1968 to 2004 where Jaguar was too timid to develop and "essentially made the same-looking car." He put this down to a reluctance on Jaguar's part to move too far away from its successful models and, quite interestingly, because "not only did we start doing market research, we started asking Americans what they wanted." Watch the full video on the left.

The last Volvo XC90 rolls off the production line to make way for the all new 2015 XC90

The last Volvo XC90 rolls off the production line in Sweden. When the current Volvo XC90 arrived in 2002 it staked a claim as the perfect family SUV, a role it’s managed to hang on to – more or less – even though the XC90 is now long past its sell-by date. That’s because the 2002 XC90 was so cleverly conceived in the first place, with family-friendly ease of access to the back row of seats, inflatable side curtains for all three rows of seats, an integrated adjustable booster cushion for children, safety belt tensioners for all seats, easy to drive, decent looking and almost classless.

2011 Saturn Vue: GM confirms plug-in crossover is on track

A plug-in electric powertrain once destined for a Saturn crossover will live on at General Motors and will arrive in 2011 in another vehicle. GM vice chairman and product chief Tom Stephens confirmed to wire service Reuters that the project remains on track. The automaker was scheduled to bring a plug-in version of the Saturn Vue to market in 2011.