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Crunch watch Sept 09: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 30 September 2009 11:30 Welcome to CAR's news aggregator as we round up the seismic change in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour  Wednesday 30 September 2009• Mitsubishi's global production in August was 62,924 units, a decline of 32.1% compared to August 2008. It was also the 18th consecutive monthly decrease for the Japanese car company (Mitsubishi)• Fernando Alonso has signed a three-year deal to drive for the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team.

Spy-Shot Bonanza

Below is a collection of reader-submitted spy shots. Frankly, we're stumped as to what these pictures show us, but speculation ranges from a BMW SUV in the first images, to a new BMW 7-series in the next set, to “your guess is as good as ours” for the last vehicle, caught testing in the Czech Republic. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to identify as many of the following images and report your guesses in the Comments section below.

Seven-seater for Cadillac?

Cadillac won’t comment, but it’s all over the Web that General Motors’ luxury division will get a version of the seven-seat sport-utility known internally as Lambda--externally known as the Chevrolet Traverse, the Buick Enclave and the GMC Acadia. No word on the Cadillac’s engine, but the other variants are powered by a 3.6-liter V6 varying in horsepower from 281 hp to 288 hp. Lambdas sell well, with more than 70,000 sold so far this year.