CHRYSLER

Indiana pension funds asked the Supreme Court on Sunday to immediately delay the sale of bankrupt automaker Chrysler LLC to a group led by Italian carmaker Fiat SpA while they challenge the deal.

Indiana pension funds asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Sunday to immediately delay the sale of bankrupt automaker Chrysler LLC to a group led by Italian carmaker Fiat SpA while they challenge the deal.

The pace of U.S. job losses slowed sharply last month, the strongest sign to date that the recession is diminishing, even as the unemployment rate hit its highest in nearly 26 years.

A U.S. federal appeals court on Friday will hear arguments that Chrysler LLC's sale to a group including Italian carmaker Fiat SpA and the U.S. government violates long-standing bankruptcy law and should not be allowed to go forward.

Chrysler will have little need for the hundreds of dealers it wants to close if it completes its sale to Fiat as expected, the judge overseeing the automaker's bankruptcy said on Thursday.

A growing team of Fiat SpA executives and engineers has been working at Chrysler's Detroit-area headquarters this week, finalizing plans to cut costs and ready the Fiat 500 small car for the U.S. market, people with knowledge of the work said.

Many of the 789 dealerships that Chrysler plans to close will begin presenting their case to bankruptcy court on Thursday, arguing that the automaker was undermining its turnaround by terminating the franchises.

Top executives of General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC were pressed by angry U.S. senators on Wednesday to rethink plans to slash more than 2,300 dealerships as a key part of their restructuring.

Top executives of bankrupt General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC defended slashing their dealer networks, telling Congress on Wednesday that eliminating more than 2,300 dealerships was crucial to saving the companies.

The chief executives of General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC told Congress on Wednesday that slashing dealer networks were crucial for saving their companies.

General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC, both bankrupt, will try on Wednesday to ease congressional concern, and in some cases anger, over their plans to slash more than 2,400 dealerships.

U.S. car sales fell again in May, dropping 34% to 925,824 vehicles, but showed some signs of stabilization as Ford, General Motors and Toyota reported their highest monthly totals this year.

A U.S. Court of Appeals agreed on Tuesday to hear a challenge to Chrysler LLC's sale of most of its assets to a group led by Italian automaker Fiat , in a move that could potentially delay the deal.

U.S. auto sales fell nearly 34 percent in May from a year earlier, but aggressive discounting helped steady results for the battered industry, according to monthly results released on Tuesday.

U.S. auto sales fell nearly 34 percent in May from a year earlier, but aggressive discounting helped steady results for the battered industry, according to monthly results released on Tuesday.

Ford Motor Co said on Tuesday that U.S. sales fell 24.2 percent in May for all of its brands as the only U.S. automaker not in bankruptcy reported its strongest domestic sales month since July 2008.

Chrysler LLC reported on Tuesday total unit sales of 79,010 for the month of May units, representing the best retail sales month of 2009 while the company also had an above average performance compared to industry.

A late month surge in sales from Chrysler dealerships that are losing their franchises as part of the automaker's bankruptcy may have driven U.S. auto sales in May to levels above those seen in recent months.

General Motors Corp filed for bankruptcy on Monday as the Obama administration took the first steps to try to revive a failed icon of American industry by extending unprecedented federal funding and oversight.

President Obama said on Monday that the U.S. government has no interest in running General Motors although tax-payers will own a majority of the strugling company after it emerges from bankruptcy.

General Motors Corp filed for bankruptcy on Monday, forcing the 100-year-old automaker once seen as a symbol of American economic might and dynamism into a new and uncertain era of government ownership.