2013 Volkswagen Golf Estate (Mk 7) revealed early

We have the first photos of the next Variant in the Golf Mk 7 line – the VW Golf Estate – ahead of its debut at the Geneva Motor Show next week. More in the ‘They didn’t want it to arrive yet‘ saga in the run-up to the start of the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, with this offering being the firts pictures of the new VW Golf Estate. There really isn’t a huge amount to say about the new Golf Estate except it’s a Mk 7 Golf with a small shed on the back and looks likely to be a favourite family buy.

Crunch watch Jan 09: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard, Ben Pulman and Gareth Evans Motor Industry 30 January 2009 12:39 Friday 30 January 2009• Honda is about to close the Swindon factory for four months when Friday's shifts are finished; the shutdown will affect 2500 of the 3700 staff, who will receive full pay for two months and then 60% pay for the next eight weeks (BBC News)• Porsche has announced a sharp drop in sales and likely profits. It forecasts a 27% drop in 911, Boxster, Cayman and Cayenne sales to around 34,000 units in the six months to the end of January 2009 (Financial Times, subscription required)• Ford wants Washington to do more to stimulate car sales, after posting a record loss of nearly $14.6 billion earlier this week (Detroit News)• Honda's quarterly profit has crashed by 90% – forcing the Japanese car maker to halve its annual profit target (Detroit Free Press)Thursday 29 January 2009• Ford of Europe is a bright spot in the Blue Oval's quarterly results today, making $1.06 billion pre-tax profit in 2008 (up from $997m in 2007). It's the first profit of more than $1bn since 1989 (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)• Volvo suffered a 'disastrous 2008' with a pre-tax loss of $1.46bn.

Design Contest: Interior Motives Awards 2011

Shortlisted entries have been announced for the 2011 Interior Motives Student Design Awards. After individual deliberation by our panel of renowned senior designers, students being tutored at colleges in a diverse range of countries including Israel, the Czech Republic, Australia, Taiwan, Canada and China, as well as in the established centres of Europe, the USA and Japan/Korea, have made the 68-strong shortlist of potential winners. Full details of this year's contenders can be viewed here.