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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.

Top Gear tops iPlayer most watched list of 2013

Rex The BBC's flagship motoring programme Top Gear dominated the most popular shows watched on the iPlayer on-demand service in 2013, new figures reveal. The Africa Special part one was the single most watched programme, with 3,422,000 views last year, the BBC said. More and more people are watching programmes on catch-up via their computers, tablets or phones: a record three billion shows were streamed on iPlayer in 2013, a rise of 33% on the previous year.

Philip Hammond to announce end of M4 Bus Lane

Philip Hammond is to announce the end of the M4 Bus Lane Philip Hammond was quick to announce that he intended to end the ‘War on Motorists’ when he was appointed Secretary of State for Transport back in May. And it was a good soundbite that resonated with hard pressed motorists. So much so we applauded his aims in an article, which lead to the Guardian calling Cars UK ‘The Petrolhead’s’ favourite website’.