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Crunch watch August 09: the auto industry

By Tim Pollard, Alex Michaelides, Ben Pulman and Freddie Fulton Motor Industry 31 August 2009 10:00 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  Monday 31 August 2009• Bank holiday today in UK; staff on a well earned break from Crunchwatch!Friday 28 August 2009• Toyota will stop producing vehicles at the New United Moor Manufacturing plant in California next March. Company officials and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the decision, which comes in the wake of factory partner GM’s announced that it would abandon the venture back in June (Detroit News)• Tengzhong may finalise its deal to buy Hummer from GM next week, well placed sources told AN (Automotive News, subscription required)• German economics minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg says it is 'hardly realistic' for GM to keep hold of its European outfit Opel and Vauxhall (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)• Ford's US cop car favourite, the Crown Victoria, is going to cease production in 2011 (Detroit News)Thursday 27 August 2009• Nissan and Chrysler have abandoned plans to build cars for each other in the wake of Chrysler’s alliance with Fiat.

F1 2010 – an enticing prospect

The 2010 F1 season kicks off this weekend at the Bahrain F1 Circuit There have been accusations that Formula 1 has become boring; just a procession of cars going round in a circle many say. And at times over recent years it’s not always been easy to disagree. But 2010 looks like it could be shaping up to be the best season in F1 for a generation.

Bugatti Atalante sells for £3 Million

Back at the turn of the new year, we brought you news of a Bugatti Type 57S Atalante that had been found in a barn in the North East, after the death of its owner, a Dr Harold Carr. We speculated on its price, for which estimates varied hugely, with some reports suggesting that a price up near £7 million was likely. We plumped for £3,000,000 and, probably more by luck than judgement, we were bang on the nail!