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Crunch watch Mar 09: the auto industry in crisis

By Ben Pulman and Tim Pollard Motor Industry 31 March 2009 13:48 Tuesday 31 March 2009• Porsche said that its earnings before tax rose to €7.3 billion in the six months to the end of January – including a €6.8bn windfall from its VW share options (Financial Times)• Fritz Henderson, GM's president and chief operating officer, will step up to replace Rick Wagoner, who was ousted on Sunday as CEO of General Motors (Financial Times)• President Obama is essentially CEO-in-chief of GM – despite not owning a single cent of stock, says Detroit News commentator (Detroit News)• German chancellor Angela Merkel gives assurances that any would-be investors in GM's European arm will be given state support. Opel is asking for €3.3 billion in aid – and up to 25,000 jobs in Germany depend on it, with up to 300,000 jobs across Europe including Saab and Vauxhall (BBC News)Monday 30 March 2009• General Motors' chief executive Rick Wagoner has been ordered to resign by US president Barack Obama with immediate effect. It's part of Obama's administration's critique of GM and Chrysler's turnaround plans – he's understood to be unhappy with the plans submitted (BBC News)• New GM non-executive chairman Kent Kresa has admitted that at the company's next general meeting it will have 'a majority of new directors' (General Motors)• Chrysler will receive US government aid for the next 30 days, but the Obama administration has said that if the company cannot secure a tie-up with the Fiat Group within that time period it will not receive any more money from the taxpayers and could go into liquidation.

The British are here: Video shows arrival of the McLaren MP4-12C

The McLaren MP4-12C has been on the road for a few months, but McLaren has now released a video celebrating the arrival of its latest supercar. Watch as the first of many MP4-12Cs roll off at the Port of Baltimore and make their way across America. The video also mixes in clips of former Formula One world champions Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button juxtaposed driving their race cars.

Jaguar XJ_e plug-in hybrid debuts at Goodwood

The Jaguar Jaguar XJ_e plug-in hybrid research car with a 2.0 litre EcoBoost engine and 69kW electric motor on show at Goodwood. It’s been a bit of a Jaguar 24hrs with the news of prices for the new Xf Sportbrake and the debut of the new 3.0L Supercharged engine in the XJ for 2013. Now we get the public debut of the Jaguar XJ_e plug-in hybrid at the Goodwood Festival of Speed today featuring the 2.0 litre Ecoboost petrol engine from the Evoque and a 69kW (93bhp) electric motor.