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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.

Eterniti Artemis racks up 5 sales at Beijing Motor Show

Eterniti Artemis - first sales at Beijing Despite a price tag of £250k, Eterniti says they have taken five orders for the Artemis SUV at the Beijing Motor Show. Eterniti Motors finally revealed their Artemis SUV at the Bejing Motor Show (that’s the Cayenne based Super SUV formerly known as the Eterniti Hemera), and it came with a whopping price tag of £250k. But despite that (or maybe because of it) the cost of the stand at Beijing seems to have paid off for Eterniti with the first five sales for the Super SUV being taken – four for the standard car at £210k plus tax and one for a completely bespoke version.

Volkswagen Space Up concept

By Ben Pulman Motor Shows 24 October 2007 10:30 Up, up, and away… Yes, the Volkswagen Up is back. The Tokyo Motor Show today saw VW unveil a second iteration of their new small family car – a third model will be shown at the LA Auto Show in November 2007. Called the Space Up!, the rear-engined car is a stretched version of the three-door we saw at the Frankfurt Motor Show earlier in the year.