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Crunch watch Apr 09: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard and Ben Pulman Motor Industry 30 April 2009 17:21 Welcome to CAR's news aggregator as we round up the seismic change in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour  Thursday 30 April 2009• It's official: president Barack Obama confirms this afternoon Chrysler will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it strikes a patnership with Fiat (Automotive News, subscription required)• 'Over the past month, seemingly insurmountable obstacles have been overcome,' says Obama. 'Chrysler and Fiat have formed a partnership that has a strong chance of success' • Chrysler is filing for bankruptcy protection under Section 363(b) of Chapter 11 bankruptcy code – expected to last for 30-60 days (Detroit News)• Treasury to pay Chrysler $4.5 billion 'in exit financing'• Chrysler tipped to get new board of directors.

Abarth 500C EsseEsse & Punto Evo EsseEsse at Paris

The Abarth 500c EsseEsse arrives at Paris Abarth do a very good job of warming up the odd Fiat or two (well, they have been doing it for quite a long time), the most recent offerings being the Abarth 500C and the Abarth Punto Evo which we saw when we trollied off to Goodwood in July. But there is a second flavour of Abarth. Best to think of it as the ‘Chilli’ Abarth; Abarth call it EsseEsse.

Battery breakthrough set to accelerate electric-car development

A team of scientists working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are claiming a significant breakthrough in recharging times for lithium-ion batteries. According to findings published in the scientific journal Nature, MIT researchers Byoungwoo Kang and Gerbrand Ceder have unlocked the potential of lithium-ion batteries by patenting a unique process which is claimed to allow a typical laptop power pack to be fully recharged in less than a minute--an improvement in recharging performance of roughly 90 percent over existing lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries generate electric current via the flow of lithium ions across an electrolyte, from an electrode to a cathode.