Crunch watch Mar 09: the auto industry in crisis

By Ben Pulman and Tim Pollard Motor Industry 31 March 2009 13:48 Tuesday 31 March 2009• Porsche said that its earnings before tax rose to €7.3 billion in the six months to the end of January – including a €6.8bn windfall from its VW share options (Financial Times)• Fritz Henderson, GM's president and chief operating officer, will step up to replace Rick Wagoner, who was ousted on Sunday as CEO of General Motors (Financial Times)• President Obama is essentially CEO-in-chief of GM – despite not owning a single cent of stock, says Detroit News commentator (Detroit News)• German chancellor Angela Merkel gives assurances that any would-be investors in GM's European arm will be given state support. Opel is asking for €3.3 billion in aid – and up to 25,000 jobs in Germany depend on it, with up to 300,000 jobs across Europe including Saab and Vauxhall (BBC News)Monday 30 March 2009• General Motors' chief executive Rick Wagoner has been ordered to resign by US president Barack Obama with immediate effect. It's part of Obama's administration's critique of GM and Chrysler's turnaround plans – he's understood to be unhappy with the plans submitted (BBC News)• New GM non-executive chairman Kent Kresa has admitted that at the company's next general meeting it will have 'a majority of new directors' (General Motors)• Chrysler will receive US government aid for the next 30 days, but the Obama administration has said that if the company cannot secure a tie-up with the Fiat Group within that time period it will not receive any more money from the taxpayers and could go into liquidation.

Dacia Logan Estate: Price from £6,995

The Dacia Logan MCV (Estate) becomes the UK’s cheapest estate car with prices from £6,995 – for the Logan MCV 1.2 Access trim – rising to £10,795. That’s £1,000 less than we’d expected when the Logan estate was revealed at Geneva last month, and cheap enough to make it the cheapest estate car on sale in the UK. True, the entry-level Logan estate in Access trim with the 1.2 litre 74bhp petrol engine, 15″ steel wheels and not a lot of toys, isn’t exactly specced up, but if you need a proper estate car – and you want it new – the Logan MCV (the MCV bit means ‘Maximum Capacity Vehicle) is a great deal.

Skoda Roomster Scout (2007): first official pictures

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 06 February 2007 11:15 Oh no, not another pretend off-roader... Afraid so. This time Skoda has given its Roomster mini-MPV the 4x4 look - but with none of the hardware to back up the off-roading image.