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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.

The Jaguar F-Type Shooting Brake that the British manufacturer should build

This is one man’s vision of what a Jaguar F-Type Shooting Brake could (and should) look like. Theophilus Chin likes to be known as an ‘automotive manipulator’ and has put his passion for cars and his computer skills to good use, creating this stunning Jaguar F-Type Shooting Brake concept. MSN Cars has already driven the ‘regular’ F-Type Coupe.

Chris Evans’ Magnificent Seven Ferraris at Goodwood FoS

Chris Evans Ferrari and the SA Aperta at Goodwood Every year the Ginger Ferrarista, otherwise known as DJ Chris Evans, relieves a number of comfortably-off people of ludicrous sums of money to drive a selection of glorious Ferraris. It’s all done in a very good cause – BBC Children in Need – and the sum raised, for what is effectively a four day jaunt in decent Ferraris, is simply astonishing. This year Chris and the Ferraris raised a whopping £1.1 million for Children in Need thanks to the generosity of those who bid to get one of the places in Chris’s Ferrari trip round South East England.