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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.

Mitsubishi Evo returns: new FQ-440 most powerful Evo ever

Mitsubishi has announced that the high-performance Lancer Evolution is returning to the UK – in a limited run of just 40 Evolution X FQ-440 MR editions, celebrating 40 years of Mitsubishi on these shores. As is par for the course for an Evo FQ, the 440 represents the horsepower, making this new car the most powerful Evo ever. But priced at £50,000 it's also the most expensive Evo ever.

New Volvo P1800 revealed by Volvo’s chief designer

Volvo P1800 re-imagined Volvo’s Chief Designer at its Monitoring and Concept Centre has recreated the iconic Volvo P1800 for the 21st century to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The Volvo P1800 is perhaps the most stylish car Volvo has ever produced, and 2011 marks the 50th anniversary of the most unlikely of Volvos; a Volvo that was to The Saint what the Aston Martin DB5 was to James Bond. Designed to be eye candy for Volvo dealers hoping for more footfall in showrooms full of Amazons, the P1800 was designed by Pelle Petterson – the son of Volvo consultant Helmer Petterson and the driving force behind the Volvo P1800 project - who worked for Italian designers Pietro Frau.