Aeromotive Billet Digital Fuel Management Unit 16303 on 2040-parts.com

Crunch watch Dec 09: the auto industry in crisis

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 December 2009• Saab's PR chief told AN that GM is extending the deadline for a sale to 7 January – and the Trollhattan factory will resume limited manufacturing in early January to build the new 9-5 and some 9-3 cabrios (Automotive News, subscription required)• Last night Bloomberg reported a Saab board member claiming that the 31 December deadline for a Saab sale or closure 'is not holy'. If GM receives a bid that is 'sufficiently interesting', it'll extend the deadline, said the Saab suit (Automotive News, subscription required)• GM is offering massive discounts on Pontiac and Saturn cars, as it seeks to get rid of the remaining stock from these terminated brands.

Supermarkets cut petrol prices

MOTORISTS have received some late-autumn cheer in the form of supermarket cuts to the price of petrol. Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco all announced that reductions would take effect from today. Asda said that no one filling up at its forecourts would pay more than 126.7p a litre for petrol from today , with diesel priced at 133.7p.

Alfa Romeo MiTo

This is Alfa Romeo's latest compact car, the MiTo. The new car draws its name from the abbreviations of two Italian cities: Milan, the city that brought the car's style into being, and Turin, which will be responsible for its industrial production. The first new Alfa Romeo to be built since the 8C Competizione, the MiTo borrows many characteristic element from its larger 'halo' sibling: the shape of the frameless side windows, the distinctive frontal treatment, the shape of the headlights and the LED tail lights.