Berlin - The global car industry crisis has tightened its grip on Germany's key automakers with sales tumbling by 14 per cent in January, figures released Tuesday showed.

Published by Germany's Assocation of International Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (VDIK) and the country's carmakers' association (VDA) said car orders in Germany alone dropped by 13 per cent in January compared to the same month in 2008.

German car exports plunged 39 per cent to 222,700 vehicles, the VDA.

New York  - General Motors and Chrysler, held upright by 13.4 billion dollars in federal loans, are preparing new rounds of buyouts of factory workers to meet federal requirements and survive the recession, media reports said Monday.

The companies have already notified the United Auto Workers (UAW) union of their intention, according to unnamed union officials quoted by Bloomberg financial news.

The federal government is insisting that the companies cut costs and prove they can be viable by the end of March, or the loans will be recalled.

London  - Production at a giant Honda car plant in Britain was being wound down Friday for a four-month closure due to falling sales.

More than 3,000 workers arriving for their last shifts before they return on June 1 will receive their full basic pay for the first two months, and around 60 per cent after that.

Unconfirmed reports have said that a further 1,000 workers had already signed up for severance deals.

Tokyo  - Honda Motor Co on Friday revised downward its earnings forecast for fiscal 2008 that ends in March after suffering from the yen's surge against other currencies and sluggish auto sales due to the global recession.

Japan's second largest automaker after Toyota Motor Corp said it expected a net profit of 80 billion yen (888.83 million dollars) for the full year, down from 185 billion yen it projected in December.

Johannesburg  - German automaker Volkswagen AG plans to cut 400 jobs at its South African plant, news reports said Friday.

Company spokesmen Bill Stevens said the cuts were necessary because of an expected 10-per-cent drop in new car sales this year, the SAFM radio station said.

Furthermore, Volkswagen plans to cut down production around the Easter holidays to cushion drops in export demand.

Volkswagen builds its right-hand-steered Golf cars in South Africa for export.

Tokyo - Toyota Motor Corp's operating loss for the fiscal year 2008 was to expand to 400 billion yen (4.44 billion dollars) from an earlier projection of a 150-billion-yen loss, media reports said Friday.

As Japan's leading automaker is suffering from declining demand and the yen's advance against other currencies, it was expected to incur the first-ever operating loss for the business year ending in March.

It was also expected to report the first net loss since 1963, when it started publishing net results, according to Japan's business daily The Nikkei.