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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.

Italdesign Go! concept

The Go! was one of two concepts by Italdesign Giugiaro that were unveiled at Geneva. Based on the Volkswagen Up!

Concept Car of the Week: Dodge Charger III (1968)

In 1968, at the dawn of the muscle car era, the performance-oriented Dodge brand offered a unique range of powerful and iconic models such as the Charger, the Dart and the Coronet. While working in parallel on the Mk II production Charger, designers and engineers created the third in a series of concept cars carrying the same name that aimed to showcase futuristic design and technological innovations to arouse the public and test its reaction. Dodge general manager Robert B.