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Nissan LEAF becomes London Taxi

Nissan has been ferrying Londoners and tourists round the capital in the Nissan LEAF EV free of charge as part of its ‘Big Turn On’ campaign. Yesterday we reported that a Nissan LEAF was going to go backwards up the hillcimb at Goodwood in a bid for a reversing speed record, and to draw attention to the LEAF’s strengths as part of Nissan’s ‘Big Turn On’ campaign. We’re not too sure how being able to go backwards as quickly as you can forwards in a LEAF is a big selling point, but Nissan’s stunt in London this week is far more relevant – they’ve been offering fee taxi rides in the electric LEAF to tourists and Londoners alike.

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.

2011 BMW 5-series: Bavaria's midsize sedan takes cues from bigger 7-series brother

BMW's appetite for controversial design may have waned since the heights of former design boss Chris Bangle's oft-derided flame surfacing stratagem. But it shows no sign of fading completely, as we see in the first official photographs of the new sixth-generation 5-series, which goes on sale in North America by mid-2010. Codenamed F10, BMW's midsize sedan is restyled and reengineered in a bid to keep it ahead of key rivals such as the recently renewed Mercedes-Benz E-class and the Audi A6.