Ford Secondary Air Injection Pipe Air Inlet #e7tz-pb449-a on 2040-parts.com

Crunch watch July 09: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard, Ben Pulman, Ben Whitworth and Alex Michaelides Motor Industry 31 July 2009 11:23 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  Friday 31 July 2009• Lamborghini today posted pre-tax profits of €5.4 million – despite a sales drop of 37% in the first six months of 2009. Sant'Agata said turnover hit €156.9m in the first half (down 43%) as it sold 825 cars globally (Lamborghini)• British motorists could have to pay £250 in tax to park at work from 2012.

Bentley Continental GT Hybrid?

Bentley Continental GT caught sporting gubbins that looks suspiciously like a Hybrid power train So far, Bentley has opted for Bio-Fuel as a good starting point for going ‘Green’, but if the spy shot you see here is anything to go by, it looks like we could be seeing a Bentley Hybrid before too long. Snapped in Spain, where many car makers do hot weather testing in Europe, this Bentley Continental GT is definitely sporting something major in the mechanical department that doesn’t fit with the stock car. The guy who snapped the car also said it was running very quietly – perhaps indicating it was in electric cruise mode.

Lexus CT 200h: a true hot hybrid hatch?

Lexus has thrust its new CT 200h hybrid hatchback straight into competition with the BMW 1-series and Audi A3 with the bold claim that it will be the dynamic benchmark for the sector.Can a brand better known for producing immaculately built luxury barges really build a sporting hatch? We're about to find out... It only takes a cursory glance at the latest press material from Lexus to discover how it's pitching the CT, containing as it does more references to the word 'sporty' than you can shake a gearstick at.