Sales of new cars in the UK have slumped to a 12-year-low and production of cars at Honda in Swindon has been halted for a unprecedented four-month period because of the collapse in global sales and represents the longest continuous halt in production at any UK car plant. The announcement comes on a day when the EU's Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen warned the outlook for the European car industry was 'brutal' and predicted not all European manufacturers would survive the crisis.
Thousands of new cars are stored on the runway at the disused Upper Heyford airbase near Bicester, Oxfordshire, on December 18, 2008.
With many manufacturers on extended Christmas shutdown, the number of cars rolling off production lines in December fell 47.5% to just 53,823.
Unsold cars at Avonmouth Docks near Bristol.
Peugeot cars await shipment to Italian dealers at the port of Civitavecchia.
New cars jam the dockside in the port of Valencia in Spain.
Stocks of Ford trucks in Detroit , Michigan.
The build-up of imported cars at the port of Newark , New Jersey.
Newly imported cars fill the 150-acre site at the Toyota distribution centre in Long Beach , California.
Imported cars stored at Sheerness open storage area awaiting delivery to dealers.
The open car storage areas in Corby , Northamptonshire, are reaching full capacity.
Earlier this week Jaguar Land Rover said 450 British jobs would go.
Nissan has announced plans to cut its Sunderland workforce by 1,200. Thousands of unsold cars are stored around the factory's test track.
Honda is halting production at its Swindon plant in April and May, extending the two-month closure announced before Christmas to four months. Honda and Japanese rival Toyota are both cutting production in Japan and elsewhere. Pictured, Hondas await export at a pier in Tokyo..
