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Crunch watch Jan 09: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard, Ben Pulman and Gareth Evans Motor Industry 30 January 2009 12:39 Friday 30 January 2009• Honda is about to close the Swindon factory for four months when Friday's shifts are finished; the shutdown will affect 2500 of the 3700 staff, who will receive full pay for two months and then 60% pay for the next eight weeks (BBC News)• Porsche has announced a sharp drop in sales and likely profits. It forecasts a 27% drop in 911, Boxster, Cayman and Cayenne sales to around 34,000 units in the six months to the end of January 2009 (Financial Times, subscription required)• Ford wants Washington to do more to stimulate car sales, after posting a record loss of nearly $14.6 billion earlier this week (Detroit News)• Honda's quarterly profit has crashed by 90% – forcing the Japanese car maker to halve its annual profit target (Detroit Free Press)Thursday 29 January 2009• Ford of Europe is a bright spot in the Blue Oval's quarterly results today, making $1.06 billion pre-tax profit in 2008 (up from $997m in 2007). It's the first profit of more than $1bn since 1989 (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)• Volvo suffered a 'disastrous 2008' with a pre-tax loss of $1.46bn.

Mercedes confirms electric AMG SLS

By Richard Webber First Official Pictures 17 July 2009 09:46 Mercedes’ new AMG SLS – the gullwinged  GT supercar due to appear at the 2009 Frankfurt motor show – is going electric as engineers develop an emissions-free battery powered SLS as an alternative to the 563bhp V8. The eco SLS will have an electric motor powering each wheel, producing a total of 526bhp. Needless to say, for now it remains an engineering prototype – but a spokeswoman told CAR that Mercedes was intent on putting it into production.

2013 Nissan Pathfinder arrives – but not for the UK & Europe

Nissan has revealed a new, slicker Pathfinder for 2013, but the UK and Europe won’t be getting it. Nissan started teasing the 2013 Nissan Pathfinder even before the old year ended, with plans to show a concept at the Detroit Show in January. Which they did.