1961 Impala Belair Hubcap 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.

Volvo V60 Polestar teased again (probably)

Volvo V60 Polestar teased again Last week we had a teaser video from Volvo of what we think is probably a proper performance version in the guise of the Volvo V60 Polestar. Now, ahead of a reveal that seems to be scheduled for Tuesday (23 rd November), Volvo and Polestar are back at the tease game with a couple of new images which still leave a bit of ambiguity, but which do seem to be pointing to a V60 Polestar. The front end of the Polestar tease (above) does seem to show a butch front end for the V60, and the interior shot shows the flappy paddles and steering wheel from the interior.

BMW ActiveE: Electric BMW 1-Series at Geneva

BMW 1-Series Electric - BMW ActiveE It’s been a while since we first saw the BMW ActiveE, the BMW 1-Series with the gubbins from the MINI E bolted under the bonnet (and various other places) and intended as the next instalment in BMW’s plans to charge its customers to do real-world development and research. In fact, the electric BMW 1-Series first crossed our radar in December 2009 and went on to be shown as a concept at the Detroit Motor Show a month later. And now it’s back at the Geneva Motor Show in March, only now it’s production-ready.