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Fiat 500 gets 3-star safety rating from NHTSA

The slow-selling 2012 Fiat 500 now has another obstacle in its sales path: It has been tagged by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration with a three-star safety rating, the lowest of any new model tested so far. The two-door subcompact received four stars from NHTSA for frontal crash and rollover accidents but received just two stars for side-impact crash safety, the agency announced on its Web site, safercar.gov. The tests gave the car a combined overall safety rating of three stars, NHTSA reported.

Audi-designed Santa's sleigh (2009)

Father Christmas has adapted his own version of the new Audi A1. Ho-ho-ho By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 18 December 2009 08:04 Audi has opted for a quick fix in designing an Ingolstadt-sponsored Santa’s sleigh: it’s taken the forthcoming 2010 A1 and prepped it for Christmas duties. Santa looks cheery in this left-hooker, a three-door version of Audi’s new Mini rival.

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.