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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.

Toyota Yaris Hybrid: Previews new Yaris

Toyota Yaris Hybrid - a preview of the next-gen Yaris Toyota are determined to shove hybrid gubbins in anything they build that moves, so we now get a hybrid version of the next generation Yaris revealed at Geneva. Just as Toyota aren’t saying if the new Prius+ will get the regular 1.8 litre hybrid drivetrain (we think it will), they’re also not saying if the Toyota Yaris Hybrid will get it. We’re assuming not, because it would then out-perform both the Prius and the Auris Hybrid, which would never do.

Audi readies flagship Sport Quattro concept for Frankfurt

Audi will unveil its new Sport Quattro concept at next month's Frankfurt motor show, previewed in a number of sketches. We first saw the Quattro concept back in 2010 at the Paris motor show and three years later the carmaker has produced another iteration, a 2+2 coupé, that measures in at 4,699mm – 419mm longer than the Quattro concept (4,280mm). From what the sketches show, the Sport Quattro retains the chunky C-pillar of the 2010 Quattro concept, the 1984 Sport Quattro and the original Ur-Quattro models, while the four headlamp units are another nod to the original.