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Crunch watch August 09: the auto industry

By Tim Pollard, Alex Michaelides, Ben Pulman and Freddie Fulton Motor Industry 31 August 2009 10:00 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  Monday 31 August 2009• Bank holiday today in UK; staff on a well earned break from Crunchwatch!Friday 28 August 2009• Toyota will stop producing vehicles at the New United Moor Manufacturing plant in California next March. Company officials and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the decision, which comes in the wake of factory partner GM’s announced that it would abandon the venture back in June (Detroit News)• Tengzhong may finalise its deal to buy Hummer from GM next week, well placed sources told AN (Automotive News, subscription required)• German economics minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg says it is 'hardly realistic' for GM to keep hold of its European outfit Opel and Vauxhall (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)• Ford's US cop car favourite, the Crown Victoria, is going to cease production in 2011 (Detroit News)Thursday 27 August 2009• Nissan and Chrysler have abandoned plans to build cars for each other in the wake of Chrysler’s alliance with Fiat.

New Saab 9-3 leaks – Saab’s future?

New Saab 9-3 leaks It makes a change to have a Saab story that isn’t more doom and gloom and financial meltdown, but it does seem a bit of a coincidence that an image of the new Saab 9-3 should surface on the day Saab reveals the Chinese investment plans to put Saab back on its feet. Still, casting our cynicism aside, the new Saab 9-3 will be a key part of the plans to revive Saab – but this leaked photo isn’t the first news we’ve had of the new 9-3. Apart from Victor Muller’s musings about Saab’s future, we saw a proper concept of the new 9-3 back at Geneva in the Spring when Saab called the Saab PhoeniX (the 9-3 Concept) an ‘Aeromotional Design’ and managed to allude to Saab’s background in fighter planes by saying the PhoeniX  ‘liquid metal’ forms and a dramatic jet canopy-inspired glasshouse’.

Caterham launches surprise motorbike division

CAR MAKER Caterham has created a motorcycle division in a shock announcement that sees the brand break new ground. The company, which as well as manufacturing the famous Seven roadster operates one of Formula 1 racing’s 11 teams, has revealed three prototype bikes to kick its two-wheeled ventures off. These prototypes, two of which look more like bicycles, have been scheduled for production in 2014, sparking surprise and debate among bikers and sports car fans.