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Ariel to revive motorcycle business with debut at Goodwood

If you're a parent, the name Ariel might conjure up one of the Disney princesses, but auto enthusiasts know it as a hardcore, boutique British sports car maker. Before being revived to make the skeletal Atom, the business was also a British motorcycle company best known for its four-cylinder bikes. Now, the modern iteration is looking to the past with plans to unveil its own cycle at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed from June 26-29.
Given Ariel's cars, you might expect an absolutely minimalist motorcycle weighing practically nothing. However, according to its boss speaking to Visor Down, there's no point in trying to build another racer; that market is sewn up. Instead, it's developing a performance cruiser with a more tailored design approach. Buyers can select a variety of different components to adapt the cycle to their style. It shouldn't be lacking for too much speed though; power comes from the 1,237cc V4 engine from the Honda VFR1200F with around 170 horsepower on tap, and it also offers the VFR's six-speed, dual-clutch gearbox as an option.
Ariel admitted that bike on display at Goodwood would just be a test mule and didn't say when the production version would be ready. It seems this idea has been a long time coming, though - we reported in 2011 that the company was working on a bespoke motorcycle with multiple design options around a Honda engine. Pricing at the time was rumored to sit around 20,000 pounds.

Honda rolls out new Step WGN in Japan

First introduced back in 1996, the Honda Step WGN (originally styled as Stepwgn) is now entering its fifth generation of hauling families around the Pacific island nation, and packs a number of innovations into its tall and boxy form. For starters, this latest minivan does away with the conventional 2.4-liter engine from its predecessor and replaces it with a new 1.5-liter turbocharged VTEC, driving either the front wheels or all four through a continuously variable transmission. More innovative though is the "Waku Waku Gate," borrowing its name for the Japanese term for "exciting." We're not sure we'd go that far, but it is intriguing: the tailgate can either be opened fully for maximum aperture, or partially split and opened to the side for tighter spots. That ought to make ingress and egress from the seven-passenger cabin that much easier, but once inside it promises to be a more pleasant place as well thanks to Scandinavian-inspired design. It also packs the latest safety features, including pedestrian detection, to keep everyone safer and make the new Step WGN more appealing to Japanese families. Honda to Begin Sales of All-New Step WGN - Equipped with a newly-developed 1.5-liter direct injection VTEC TURBO engine - TOKYO, Japan, April 23, 2015 - Honda Motor Co., Ltd. will begin sales of the all-new Honda Step WGN on Friday, April 24, 2015, at dealerships across Japan. Equipped with a newly-developed 1.5-liter direct injection VTEC TURBO engine, this fifth-generation Step WGN was designed to be a fun-to-use minivan that features a functional cabin space much like a living room at home, as well as a revolutionary tailgate mechanism named Waku Waku Gate ("Waku Waku" is a Japanese expression for "exciting"). Honda's first 1.5-liter VTEC TURBO engine realizes not only powerful and smooth acceleration with its torque equivalent to that of a 2.4-liter engine but also excellent fuel economy and quietness, achieving the type of leisurely drive people expect from a minivan even with multiple passengers and on hilly roads. Moreover, the all-new Step WGN realizes top-in-class level*1 fuel economy of 17.0km/liter (JC08 mode*2). Furthermore, the all-new Step WGN features the largest cabin space in the class*3 as well as the Waku Waku Gate*4, Honda's original design that functions as a wide tailgate that opens up or as with a sub-door that opens to the side.

Struggling McLaren-Honda F1 partners near 'fork in the road'

WOKING, England - McLaren's partnership with Honda has not worked so far, and the team is now approaching a "fork in the road," executive director Zak Brown said on Wednesday. Speaking to Reuters in his office at the Formula One team's headquarters, Brown (pictured above) indicated clearly that a parting of the ways was a real option under consideration by management. The American said engine upgrades promised for this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix were not ready, and the Japanese manufacturer could not say when they might be. And while McLaren still wanted to win championships with Honda, there were serious concerns as to whether that was achievable. "Honda's working very hard, but they seem a bit lost," said Brown, who replaced Ron Dennis at the helm late last year. "We were only told recently that we wouldn't have the upgrade coming (for Montreal) ... and we don't have a definitive timeline, which is concerning because the pain is great and we can't sit around forever. "We were eagerly awaiting this upgrade as were our drivers, and it's a big disappointment that it's not coming. It's not lack of effort, but they are struggling to get it to come together."FAILURE AND EMBARRASSMENT McLaren, the second oldest and most successful team in Formula One after Ferrari in terms of race wins, are the only ones yet to score a point this season. They have not won a race since 2012. The renewed partnership with Honda in 2015 was billed as a return to the glory days, when French great Alain Prost and the late Brazilian Ayrton Senna dominated the late 1980s and early 1990s. Instead it has brought failure and embarrassment to the former world champions, whose cars have failed to finish races -- and sometimes even start them -- due to engine failures. Spanish driver Fernando Alonso, a double world champion whose future is uncertain, said in March that "we have only one problem, and that is the power unit. There is no reliability and there is no power." Honda's engine troubles even plagued Alonso at the Indy 500, where a failure took him out of the race. McLaren were ninth in 2015, sixth last year and this season could become their worst ever. MARCHING ORDERS "The executive committee have now given us our marching orders," said Brown, who is also chairman of the fast-growing Motorsport Network media group. "We're not going to go into another year like this, in hope." "I don't want to get into what our options are.