Business week in pictures

The struggling motor manufacturer General Motors is auctioning off hundreds of classic and speciality cars to save storage costs at its heritage centre in Michigan. Nearly 100 collectable vehicles will go on the block in Florida including a 1920 Chevrolet Model T truck from the early days of mass produced vehicles. Also up for sale is a 1999 Chevrolet Camaro used in the movie Runaway Bride, starring Richard Gere and Julia Robert Photograph: PR

The PUMA project prototype vehicle in New York's Times Square. General Motors and Segway unveiled a prototype two-seat electric scooter, intended to ease urban congestion and pollution and help GM recast itself as environmentally progressive and technologically innovative Photograph: Jin Lee/AP

Employees of German luxury car maker Daimler wear masks of CEO Dieter Zetsche. They took to the streets of Berlin to protest about pay and short-time working as the company warned of more cost-cutting measures Photograph: Michael Gottschalk/AFP/Getty Images

Italy's Campari has bought the Wild Turkey bourbon brand from the French drinks group Pernod Ricard in a $575m (£391m) deal, the biggest acquisition in Campari's history Photograph: David Lefranc/Kipa/Corbis

Royal Bank of Scotland angered unions and politicians with plans to cut up to 4,500 staff in Britain as part of a worldwide reduction of 9,000 posts. The bank, which is 70% owned by the taxpayer, said the cuts were part of a policy to save about £2.5bn over the next three years Photograph: Shaun Curry/AFP/Getty Images

The famous Swan Hunters shipyard cranes on board the vessel Osprey, on the River Tyne, North Shields. Fears that Britain is in the grip of an industrial slump as brutal as that of the early 1980s were highlighted by one of the country's leading thinktanks as it warned that deep cuts in factory output had left the economy poised for a second successive quarter of sharp decline Photograph: Scott Heppell/AP

Ireland's richest individuals will pay around €300 (£270) extra a week in income tax while earners on the minimum wage are to contribute an additional €7 as an increase in tax rates formed the cornerstone of the Republic's economic rescue package Photograph: Reuters

The founders of Innocent, the ethically aware smoothie business that has sold a stake of between 10% and 20% to the US drinks group Coca-Cola for £30m, are adamant that their ideals and eco-friendly sentiments will not be crushed as a result of striking a deal with a company best known for its less than healthy fizzy drinks Photograph: Edmond Terakopian/PA

Thousands of cars at Nissan in Sunderland. Carmakers Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan received a £720m boost from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the EU's main source of long-term lending, which has given the go-ahead for loans that will allow the companies to invest in greener vehicles Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA