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

Ellesmere Port's bid to build Ampera hits snags

By Rob Golding Motor Industry 09 October 2009 15:02 Prime minister Gordon Brown’s personal crusade to get Vauxhall's version of the Chevrolet Volt petrol-electric plug-in hybrid – the Ampera – built in Britain's Ellesmere Port factory in 2012 is a dream delayed, CAR can disclose today.News that the UK Astra plant is the best in Europe, that the Astra's Delta platform will underpin the Ampera, and that Volt will be on US sale from 2010 had been taken to mean that Vauxhall would be churning out the cars in the north west within three years.But the prospect of an electric car industry growing up around the run-down Merseyside manufacturing site is not imminent, CAR has learned.'No Ampera to be built in Europe before 2015'Vauxhall insiders have made it clear that the car to be known as the Vauxhall/Opel Ampera in Europe will be an import from the US for at least five years. One senior planner told us: 'The US will be the sole source of Amperas until at least 2015.'Bob Lutz, GM's former product supremo who recently came out of retirement as a PR, said that the low value of the dollar made the US an ideal site for the manufacturing of export cars. And with forecast sticker prices of the range-extender electric car standing at a scary £35,000+, every price saving is vital to its marketability.The European market also needs time to get its electricity recharge infrastructure in place before it is worth making cars onshore in volume, GM high-ups point out.

Citroen C4 facelift (2008): first photos

By Ben Whitworth First Official Pictures 16 September 2008 11:13 Citroen has given its C4 hatch a mid-life brush-up with the introduction of two new petrol engines, a range of economy tweaks for the HDI diesels and an is-it-new-or-not facelift.  It looks like a subtle makeover for the Citroen C4. Talk me through the changes The C4’s nose gets a revised bumper and grille and a repositioned number plate, that according to Citroen imbues the C4 with a ‘stronger, sportier, more dynamic look’. But then you probably picked up on that straight away.

CAR test drive survey: win £500!

By Ollie Kew (photography by Richard Pardon) Motor Industry 13 March 2014 14:00 If you’re after a new car, do you head straight for the online configurator, your local dealership, or online drive verdicts like CAR’s reviews section? We want to hear your views: click the link below to complete our short survey and you’ll be entered into a prize draw to win £500! With so much information online, and brands like BMW ambitiously purporting to offer a test drive experience via a smartphone and tablet app, the humble demonstrator test drive is in jeopardy of looking a little ‘last week’.