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MINI Countryman Coupe to be the MINI Paceman after all

MINI has revealed that the MINI Paceman Concept which we thought was going to hit production as the MINI Countryman Coupe will be the Paceman after all. There was always little chance that the MINI Paceman – a two door Countryman Coupe first seen at Detroit last year – was doing anything other than heading for production. After all, making a coupe version of the Countryman is an obvious niche for MINI – that great seeker of niches – to extend the MINI franchise in to.

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.

Changan CV11

Changan's first MPV rolled off the production line on March 26 in China, following its preview as a concept four years ago at the Shanghai Motor Show. Since then the MPV market in China has boomed, sales in 2006 a third higher than in 2005. The package and styling of the CV11 are both euro-generic, but is interesting to see a different market embrace them so enthusiastically.