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

General Motors Europe opens new Design Center

Being a car designer is often percieved as a glamourous occupation, but few people realise that this typically means working in some of the least inspiring places. Wolfsburg, Detroit and Birmingham are just a few of the locations that are home to some of the largest populations of car designers around the world. GM Europe's location in Russelsheim, Germany is also one of the less glamourous locations but the new design center building opened this week aims to redress the otherwise rather industrial feel of the place where tomorrow's Opels and Saabs are created.

Saab seeks court protection from creditors

Saab is filing for protection from creditors from a Swedish district court, the automaker's owner, Swedish Automobile, said Wednesday. Saab is seeking court approval for a voluntary reorganization to secure short-term stability while it waits for funding from Chinese investors Pang Da and Zhejiang Youngman, Swedish Automobile said in a statement. Victor Muller, CEO of both Saab and Swedish Automobile, said in a statement: "We have concluded that a voluntary reorganization process will provide us with the necessary time, protection and stabilization of the business, allowing salary payments to be made, short-term funding to be obtained and an orderly restart of production to be prepared." Muller remains optimistic about Saab's future.

Focus RS plus – the Loder1899

The Focus RS by Loder1899 We finally got round to doing a review of the Focus RS last week and came away deeply impressed. The thought of 300bhp through the front wheels seemed like a barking mad idea, but Ford had managed to pull off the seemingly impossible with the adoption of their clever RevoKnuckle system, which tames the torque steer if not completely eradicating it. We did note that it seemed as if the system was good enough to take even more horses than the RS produces, which you can now find out for yourself if you opt for the tuned Focus RS revealed by German tuner Loder1899 (catchy little name).