Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series 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.

Mercedes GLA crossover (2013) preview teaser video

Mercedes has released a teaser video of its new GLA crossover ahead of its appearance at the 2013 Frankfurt motor show. The design sketches shown below were also revealed this week on the official Mercedes Facebook page. We’ve spotted the GLA in testing before, and it’s the fourth body style built in the new A-class platform.

2015 McLaren P13 details revealed

McLaren McLaren is not officially talking about its next car yet, other than to say it’s in the pipeline under the internal codename of P13. But having spent the last few days trying out the new 650S supercar, we have managed to gather a few intriguing details. The P13 – which won’t be called the P13 when it goes on sale – will join the McLaren range as an entry-level model, priced at around about £120,000.