09 Lincoln Mks Bucket Seat Center Console Assembly W/ Sync , Arm Rest on 2040-parts.com

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.

Toyota: Fixes are working on recalled vehicles

Toyota maintains that the fixes being made to correct unintended acceleration in millions of recalled vehicles are sufficient. But at a press event Monday, company officials said they are willing to bring in as many independent researchers as needed to resolve the issue once and for all. “We don't think there is a ghost issue out there,” said Kristen Tabar, general manager of electronic systems at the Toyota Technical Center in Ann Arbor, Mich.

New Mercedes A Class to get 99g/km Renault 1.5 litre dCi

New Mercedes A Class to get 99g/km Mercedes are to use a 1.5 litre diesel from Renault to create a 99g/km Mercedes A Class Blueefficiency. When the new Mercedes A Class was revealed at Geneva last week we got plenty of news about what the cracking new A Class has to offer, including the news that there would be a Mercedes first with the new A Class – a 99g/km option. At the time Mercedes gave us no detail, but its now appears that they are going to use a Renault-sourced 1.5 litre diesel as the basis for the new A Class Eco version – suitably Mercedes sorted.