Team Yamaha's 2004 Chad Reed-championship Sx Tee Shirt From Yamaha, Xl on 2040-parts.com

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.

Lincoln shows restored 1934 Edsel Ford Speedster at Pebble Beach

Lincoln unveiled Edsel Ford's restored 1934 Model 40 Special Speedster on Friday during a ceremony on the lawn at Pebble Beach. The one-off car, lost for more than 40 years, was acquired by the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in 2009 and treated to a complete restoration. According to the company, Edsel Ford originally commissioned the Speedster after visiting Europe and growing enamored of the small sports cars on the continent.

Citroen DS5 promo: Arsenal players take on English National Ballet +video

The Arsenal players and ENB dancers with the Citroen DS5 The Arsenal players and ENB dancers with the Citroen DS5 In a slightly odd promotion for the Citroen DS5, Citroen has teamed up Arsenal players with the English National Ballet It looks a bit like Citroen has been taking notice of MINI’s somewhat off-the-wall promotions for their cars and have decided a great way to get the DS5 – now it’s on sale in the UK –  front and central is to take Arsenal players Alex Song, Wojciech Szczesny, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Bacary Sagna off to the English National Ballet to get some lessons. We’re assuming the link with the DS5 is supposed to be all about elegance, power, shape, beauty, grace or any number of ways you can describe ballet and, by association, the Citroen DS5. We get treated to the Arsenal players doing a lift or two, managing a Plié at the bar and even a Pas de deux, Pirouette and an Arabesque (and now we’ve run out of ballet terminology).