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

Renault and Caterham to develop affordable sports cars

Renault and Caterham are to join forces to create new, more affordable sports cars under the Alpine badge. The two groups will establish a jointly owned new group – Société des Automobiles Alpine Caterham – under the leadership of Bernard Ollivier and will develop models to be sold as both Renault Alpine and Caterham. Tony Fernandes, Caterham Group Chairman, said: "We know the markets we are going into and, particularly in my playground in Asia, there is a huge opportunity to replicate the AirAsia model and give consumers access to exciting, affordable products that marry our interests in F1 and technology and help make their dreams come true." At this year's Monaco Grand Prix Renault unveiled the Alpine A110-50 concept, which was seen as a relaunch of the brand despite it being essentially a reworked version of the Renault-branded DeZir concept from the 2010 Paris Motor Show.

VW Design Vision GTI gets 500bhp: Worthersee

The Design Vision GTI is built to show what a Golf built for racing would look like – and perhaps point to future evolutions of VW’s most successful car – and is built on the same MQB platform as the regular GTI. It’s a bit shorter (15mm) than a regular Golf, a chunk wider (71mm) and a lot lower (57mm) which conspires to make the Design Vision GTI much more aggressive looking than its mainstream sibling. Power comes from a 3.0 litre V6 with two turbos – good for 500bhp and 413lb/ft of torque – which is driven to all four wheels through a DSG ‘box and can scoot to 62mph in a supercar-like 3.9 seconds on its way to 186mph.

Chevy Volt production increased – or is it just PR Flim-Flam?

The Chevy Volt - Production increase? Chevrolet recently opened the order book for its ‘company-saving’ range extender vehicle that is the Chevy Volt. And the price was not too stupid at around $41,000, although that still seems an awful lot of money for a car of the size and specification of the Volt.