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GM did this before. Saab was being wound-down after a planned sale had fallen apart, but it was made clear that new offers would get a hearing. So, step right up ladies and gentlemen. Hummer, creator of life-size Tonka Toys, is being wound-down but is also back in the shop window. Is it a duffer? Well, it doesn't exactly capture the spirit of the age perhaps, but we're talking niche here. Are there enough people in the globe who would buy a Hummer? Maybe. They were going mad for them in Russia a few years ago, too. If you can get the production economics right, it could be a brand that is less bonkers than it at first appears.

US/CHINA: GM approaches previous Hummer bidders

Things seem to have turned up a bit lately over at Jaguar Land Rover. Sales have sparked into life  for both brands – albeit off a low base when compared to early '09 – and Tata Motors has announced that JLR was in profit in the fiscal quarter ended Dec 31. That's not bad going when you consider how the recession seemed to be hammering both brands in the early part of last year. The contribution of cost-cutting is an interesting one. Clearly it has made a difference already and suggests that the JLR cost base isn't quite as ripe for radical surgery as some had feared (and taking a plant out after 2014 suggests further efficiency gains ahead). But the key thing, of course, will be maintaining progress in the coming quarters.

INDIA: Tata says JLR has turned profitable