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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.

Kia Soul Facelift: New York catch-up

A nipped and tucked 2012 Kia Soul As the car world seems to become more corporate and bland with every year that passes, truly ‘Marmite’ cars get fewer and fewer. But one car that is still a ‘love it or hate it’ choice is the Postman-Pat Kia Soul. And it’s had a bit of a nip and tuck for he 2012MY and been rolled out at the New York Motor Show.

Peugeot tease new sports saloon concept for Beijing Motor Show

Lurking under this cover is a new Peugeot Concept for the 2014 Beijing Motor Show Peugeot do good concepts, even if many don’t actually make it in to production. A case in point is the stunning Peugeot Onyx Concept we saw at the Paris Motor Show in 2012, which came with great styling, copper and carbon fibre bodywork, the use of unusual materials like crystal glass and compressed paper and a powertrain that used a 3.7 litre V8 at the back with an electric motor for added green credentials. Peugeot say their latest concept – which will debut at the Beijing Motor Show in April and is teased by the photo above – will use the same sort of innovative materials as the Onyx (which probably means it too will never see production) and preview the future of Peugeot’s styling.