2009 Citroen C4 Picasso (ud/ue/uf) Left Front Seat Belt 9654964477- 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.

Concept Car of the Week: Citroën C-Metisse (2006)

Citroen was on a roll back in 2006, in terms of its production cars such as the C4 and C6, but most notably in advanced design. The previous 'C-' range of concepts that started in 2002 with the C-Airdream, swiftly followed by the C-Airlounge and C-Sportlounge. But there's a feeling that the this fourth car in the series was the one that showed the PSA design team at its flamboyant best.

Nissan Note (2013) first pictures of Euro-spec supermini

Nissan has designed, engineered and will build its new Note mini-MPV in the UK. The second-gen Note packs better safety and driver assistance tech into an altogether more fashionable body than its cute but uninpsiring predecessor. Does it have enough talent to cause nightmares for the Ford Fiesta and Honda Jazz?