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

Hyundai increasing European production to 500,000 a year

Hyundai are upping production in Europe to 500,000 per annum There’s an awful lot of sense in car makers designing and building cars for the markets they serve locally, and it’s a route Hyundai has followed in Europe, where the majority of their sales are of European built models, not imports. With Hyundai sales still growing despite the European car market meltdown, Hyundai are increasing capacity in Europe to keep up with demand with further investment in their plant in Ízmit, Turkey. Originally, the Ízmit plant produced just 60,000 cars a year, but in 2007 that was increased to 125,000 and now it is being increased to 200,000 so the new i10 can be built there as well as the latest i20.

Fiat 500L gets a helping hand from P Diddy (video)

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs gives Fiat a helping hand with the 500L Fiat has done well to convince a trendy section of American car buyers that the Fiat 500 is a funky, cute and desirable runaround – especially if you live in the city. But having effectively put all their eggs in the 500 basket, they have the problem of convincing sceptical US car buyers that the much bigger Fiat 500L is an appealing – and much more practical – proposition for families. So Fiat has enlisted Sean Combs (P Diddy, Puff Daddy, Diddy or whatever moniker he’s using this week) to give the Fiat 500L a bit of much needed profile.

Suzuki adds a hot hatch to SX4 lineup

Suzuki will embrace the hot-hatch craze by adding a more street-worthy version of its SX4 compact car. Also, the entire SX4 lineup will get a more powerful engine and upgraded transmissions. The basics: The key to boosting the street image of the SX4 SportBack will be increased power from the redesigned 2.0-liter engine--up 7 hp to 150 hp.