AUTO

General Motors Co posted its biggest quarterly profit in six years on Thursday and CEO Ed Whitacre stepped aside on the cusp of an IPO expected to allow the U.S. government to relinquish its majority stake.

Honda Motor Co plans to sell a hybrid version of its popular Fit compact car at around 1.59 million yen ($18,600), making it the cheapest hybrid in Japan when it goes on sale in October.

Ford Motor is planning to win back its investment grade credit rating that it lost in 2005, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.

BMW, the world's biggest premium car maker, increased sales volumes of its flagship BMW brand by 12 percent in July thanks largely to soaring demand in China.

Car sales in China rose at their slowest in 15 months in July as the world's largest auto market cooled further after a roaring 2009, but Indian sales hit a record high thanks to sound economic prospects and new models.

Toyota Motor Corp remains confident its electronic controls have not failed and has made about 80 percent of the U.S. repairs under the recall for sticky accelerator pedals.

General Motors Co is increasing its advertisement spending to the levels seen prior to its bankruptcy filing, Joel Ewanick, the car maker's marketing chief, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview.

General Motors India will launch a range of mini-trucks and passenger vehicles in its joint venture with China's SAIC two years from now.

General Motors Co is considering reopening one of the auto plants it closed as it went through bankruptcy in 2009

Hyundai Motor Co, South Korea's top automaker, aims to sell about 17 percent more cars in India this year as the fast-growing south Asian country boosts consumer spending, a top official said on Friday.

Canadian auto parts maker Magna International swung back to profit in the second quarter, with sales up about two-thirds on the back of a revival in the battered North American car market.

General Motors Co has begun work on an initial public offering of stock that could be the largest ever for the U.S. market, the automaker's Chief Executive Ed Whitacre said on Thursday.

President Barack Obama lambasted Republicans on Thursday for opposing his auto company bailouts and unveiled a new loan guarantee for Ford Motor Co to help meet his goal of doubling U.S. exports over five years.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank said on Thursday it approved a loan guarantee for Ford Motor Co to finance $3.1 billion in exports of cars and trucks to customers in Canada and Mexico.

Germany's luxury carmaker BMW expects its China car sales to rise more than 30 percent this year, boosted by the country's robust economic growth

India's Mahindra & Mahindra is planning bid up to $400 million for troubled South Korean automaker Ssangyong Motor, sources said, as it seeks to become a major global utility vehicles maker.

The announcement that a search for a successor to Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata group, has begun was every bit as understated as the man who has steered India's second-biggest conglomerate for nearly two decades.

India's top car maker Maruti Suzuki may manufacture cars for German auto firm Volkswagen's global market on a contract basis, three newspapers said on Thursday, citing Maruti's managing director.

Toyota Motor Corp's biggest quarterly profit in two years and a hike in its annual forecasts failed to allay concerns about the strength in the yen, weak margins and a faltering U.S. market.

General Motors' venture capital unit is buying a minority stake in electric car start-up Bright Automotive to advance the development of fuel-efficient vehicle technologies.

Ford Motor Co said on Wednesday it would expand by 635 jobs a commitment to bring work to its U.S. unionized plants by 2012 that has been performed by parts suppliers.

The Chinese government will invest more than 100 billion yuan ($14.8 billion) to subsidize its fledgling environmentally friendly car industry over the next 10 years.

Toyota Motor Co ignored evidence of acceleration problems in its vehicles for most of the past decade and failed to install a brake override system it knew could have prevented accidents.

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co President and Chief Executive Richard Kramer has been elected chairman of the largest U.S. tire maker effective October 1, the company said on Tuesday.

China's Geely on Monday completed its purchase of Ford Motor Co's Volvo unit, marking China's biggest acquisition of a foreign car maker and reflecting the nation's rapid rise in the auto world.

Ford Motor Co shares are poised to rise in the next year, despite weak auto industry sales and uncertainty over the global economy

New car sales in Japan rose for the 11th straight month and South Korea's Hyundai Motor reported a double-digit rise in global sales in July, but a slowdown looked certain as government subsidies end and comparisons become difficult from the year before.

Specialty truckmaker Oshkosh Corp reported a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on Monday, lifted by an encouraging rebound in construction-related sales.

The German state of Lower Saxony denied on Monday a media report that it was considering relinquishing its blocking minority by selling some of its illiquid voting stock in Volkswagen.