Dorman 901-040 Power Door Lock Switch on 2040-parts.com

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.

Focus BEV in Jay Leno’s SIARPC – the Green Car Challenge

Jay Leno's first Green Car Challenge with a Focus BEV and Drew Barrymore Jay’s started a new TV show on NBC in the States. And he’s put together a version of SIARPC (last time – Star In A Reasonably Priced Car) using a specially created Focus BEV. Not the Focus BEV we saw at Frankfurt last week, but one put together by Ford US  based on a German Focus ST.

Infiniti Q50 [w/Gallery]

Infiniti has unveiled its new Q50 sports sedan at the 2013 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). At the front, the signature ‘double arch' waved-mesh grille features chrome surrounds while a smooth character line rises from each side, flowing backwards along the sides. A prominent line beginning behind the narrow, tapering headlamps stretches towards the rear before smoothing out underneath the crescent-cut C-pillars that are similar to those seen on the Essence Concept.