Bosch 15494 Oxygen Sensor 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.

New Jaguar XJC – the Coupe

Jaguar already has a new Jaguar XJC on the drawing board – a coupe version of the new Jaguar XJ The last Jaguar XJC was in the ’70s, and was built on the SWB version of the Series II Jaguar XJ.  In fact – by the time Jaguar got round to launching the XJC on to the market in 1975 – it was the only XJ that had the SWB, as all XJ saloons had moved over to the LWB as standard. A glorious-looking car – especially in ‘New Avengers’ guise as driven by Steed – it was plagued by the problems that beset British Leyland at the time.

London Congestion Charge jumps 15% to £11.50 a day

London Congestion Charge jumps 15% to £11.50 a day – and even a normal Prius must pay We all moaned when the London Congestion Charge zone was put in place in 2003 and we had to pay £5 a day to drive in London during the day on weekdays. But it’s gone up a bit since then. By 2011, it was costing twice as much – £10 a day – for the dubious privilege of driving in London, but having resisted the temptation of putting the price up for the last three years, Transport for London has announced it will be charging 15 per cent more from 7am on 16 June 2014 for your daily commute – that’s a whopping £11.50.