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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.

Chevrolet Camaro outsells the Ford Mustang for first time since 1993

Some drivers weren't even born the last time the Chevrolet Camaro outsold the Ford Mustang. But it happened in June as the reborn Camaro dusted the restyled Mustang, 9,320 to 7,362. The last time the Camaro beat the Mustang in a monthly sales race was October 1993, when Chevy sold 10,985 Camaros and Ford sold 5,680 Mustangs.

N.J. decal law upsets teens, parents

A New Jersey law--the first of its kind in the country--requiring drivers younger than 21 to put a small red decal on their license plates has both teens and adults upset, according to a story on the Wall Street Journal Web site. When one mother took her 16-year-old to the Motor Vehicle Commission for a learner's permit, the clerk told her she needed to buy red decals for her daughter. "When hell freezes over, I'll buy those stickers," she told the Journal.