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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.

Renault Captur Compact SUV production version teased

Renault has started the tease for their Clio Crossover – likely the Renault Captur – ahead of a debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March. The booming market for compact crossovers to blat round our congested urban landscape sees car maker scrabbling to offer up a product that can take the fight to cars like the Nissan Juke, and Renault’s offering in the market will arrive at the Geneva Motor Show in March – the Renault Captur. Before you get too excited, the production version of the Renault Captur appears to have little in common with the Captur Concept we saw at Geneva in 2011 – except for the name – and looks likely to be nothing more than a high-riding Clio 4 with added butchness.

2009 Audi Q5 Review

Cars UK [rating:4.5] Audi Q5 - The new mid-size 4x4 from Audi The Q5 is aimed in the sights of the BMW X3, although it is arguable that it will take sales from not just the mid range 4x4s, but also a number of the full-size ones; even its own Q7 is probably fair game. It would be wrong to think that the Q5 is, in essence, a re-badged Tiguan (the VW mid-size SUV offering). It’s not.