Mevotech Mk6696 Upper Ball Joint on 2040-parts.com

Crunch watch Mar 09: the auto industry in crisis

By Ben Pulman and Tim Pollard Motor Industry 31 March 2009 13:48 Tuesday 31 March 2009• Porsche said that its earnings before tax rose to €7.3 billion in the six months to the end of January – including a €6.8bn windfall from its VW share options (Financial Times)• Fritz Henderson, GM's president and chief operating officer, will step up to replace Rick Wagoner, who was ousted on Sunday as CEO of General Motors (Financial Times)• President Obama is essentially CEO-in-chief of GM – despite not owning a single cent of stock, says Detroit News commentator (Detroit News)• German chancellor Angela Merkel gives assurances that any would-be investors in GM's European arm will be given state support. Opel is asking for €3.3 billion in aid – and up to 25,000 jobs in Germany depend on it, with up to 300,000 jobs across Europe including Saab and Vauxhall (BBC News)Monday 30 March 2009• General Motors' chief executive Rick Wagoner has been ordered to resign by US president Barack Obama with immediate effect. It's part of Obama's administration's critique of GM and Chrysler's turnaround plans – he's understood to be unhappy with the plans submitted (BBC News)• New GM non-executive chairman Kent Kresa has admitted that at the company's next general meeting it will have 'a majority of new directors' (General Motors)• Chrysler will receive US government aid for the next 30 days, but the Obama administration has said that if the company cannot secure a tie-up with the Fiat Group within that time period it will not receive any more money from the taxpayers and could go into liquidation.

Driving Toyota's Pro/Celebrity Scion FR-S race cars

At the Streets of Willow Springs, there's a back straightaway that crests over a downhill and into a series of sudden, unsettling left turns. It's one of the most dramatic parts of the track, one that always trips up timid run groups. And as it turns out, heading blindly at 90 miles per hour, skimming the cones of the artificial chicane normally designed to slow lesser drivers who aren't Formula Drift prodigy Ken Gushi, will really put the fear of mortality into anyone who's signed up to ride shotgun -- especially when the car is the brand-new Scion FR-S race car for Toyota's Pro/Celebrity Race Series, here on its first outing.

One Lap of the Web: Elon Musk's Hyperloop, Greenwich Concours and a Model T

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. The 2013 Porsche Rennsport Australia went off over Memorial Day weekend at Sydney Motorsports Park and motorsportretro.com has full gallery of pictures.