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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.

Porsche Macan caught on video

The Porsche Macan – a Porsche Cayenne on a boil wash – has been spied out testing and caught on video. We’ve seen spy photos of the Porsche Macan before – Porsche’s take on the Audi Q5 – and they look more like a cut down Cayenne being used as a mule for the Macan’s underpinnings than an actual Macan. But it seems that the shots so far are actually the Macan as it’s heading for production, which means Porsche has, perhaps unsurprisingly, chosen the 911 school of car design as its inspiration for the Macan and just stuck a Cayenne on a boil wash.

Guns blazing, dealer fights Hummer slump

For Hummer dealer Jim Lynch, shrinking sales of gas-guzzling SUVs triggered an idea. He decided to add new accessories to the product arsenal at his Chesterfield, Mo., store: guns and ammo. With payments on his $7.5 million mortgage looming, Lynch turned most of his Hummer showroom into a high-end armory, with 200 pistols, rifles and shotguns worth $250,000.