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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.

CDN–GM Interactive Design Competition winners announced at NAIAS

The winners of the CDN–GM Interactive Design Competition have been announced at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. Following a guided tour of the auto show with the GM design team, the finalists gathered on the GMC stand in Cobo Hall where Mark Adams and Ken Parkinson – heads of design for Cadillac & Buick, and Chevrolet & GMC respectively – were joined by Car Design News' Editor Owen Ready to present the winners of each brand's competition brief. Joining them on stage were the mentors from GM's design teams who interacted with the entrants throughout the competition to critique and help develop their work, making this a truly unique contest.

Ken Block: Gymkhana Four is best yet

Ken Block and DC Shoes have started production for Gymkhana Four, which is slated for video launch late this summer. Block said he never thought he'd outdo Gymkhana Three but that he's fully confident that the fourth installment will blow the earlier one out of the water. "The locations we visited and action we documented are absolutely wild," Block said.