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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.

Stig test drives motorway pub

The BBC has released a video of the Stig test driving Britain’s first motorway pub, presumably as a way of promoting its new series of Top Gear. The video shows the Stig pull up at Beaconsfield services in a Vauxhall Insignia, before entering the Hope and Champion pub and posing for photos, and then ordering a pint of beer. On Bing: see pictures of the Stig England’s first motorway pub set to open However, as the Stig raises the pint to his mouth, he realises it’s not drinkable as he is still wearing his helmet.

Audi e-Tron launch now in 2012 – Torque figures rubbished

The Audi e-Tron at the LA Auto Show Audi’s electric R8 – the Audi e-Tron – was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show this year and has just had its US debut at the Los Angeles Motor Show. Dubbed the Electric R8 it is in fact a stand alone car that happens to have styling similarities to Audi’s Supercar R8, but there the similarity ends. The e-Tron – which took a little of the glory off BMW’s Vision ED Concept - boasts four electric motors – one at each wheel – which produce the equivalent of 313bhp.