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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.

NHTSA investigating Toyota Prius hybrid for steering-shaft concerns

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Monday it will look into whether steering shafts in Toyota Prius models spanning from 2004 through 2009 model years are defective. According to the Detroit News, NHTSA has already recalled the Toyota Prius twice for steering-shaft problems. In 2012, 669,000 Prius vehicles from 2004-2009 model years were recalled to replace the steering-shaft extension assembly.

Brilliance V5 revealed – it’s a Chinese BMW X1

Brilliance V5 - a BMW X1 for the budget conscious Chinese motorist The Chinese motor industry has become well-known for its ‘Homage’ cars; Chinese cars that bear more than a passing resemblance to well-known cars from the West. Step forward the latest of these – the Brilliance V5 - which we originally thought would be the Brilliance A3. Interestingly, Brilliance is actually BMW’s partner in China, and the BMW Brilliance Automotive partnership will shortly be launching the real-deal BMW X1 in China.