GENERAL MOTORS

General Motors Corp on Monday announced plans to close plants, cut hourly workers and dealers and to eliminate its Pontiac brand in an effort to meet government demands for a quicker and deeper restructuring.

General Motors Corp on Monday announced plans to close plants, cut hourly workers and dealers and to eliminate its Pontiac brand in an effort to meet government demands for a quicker and deeper restructuring.

Wall Street looked set for a drop of more than 1 percent at the open on Monday as investors worried that a possible global flu outbreak could throw a wrench into the economy's ability to climb out of a recession.

General Motors Corp is set to announce on Monday an accelerated restructuring that would close additional plants and pave the way for a debt exchange by the struggling automaker, sources briefed on the plan said on Sunday.

There has been some progress in U.S. government-driven negotiations to save Chrysler LLC, according to a senior White House official, who on Sunday also did not rule out an attempt to complete the company's restructuring in bankruptcy.

But several signposts suggest America's love of driving is stalling and may stay weak for a long while.

Chrysler won a round of concessions from its Canadian union on Friday while General Motors Corp soaked up $2 billion more in U.S. government aid and Ford Motor Co posted a narrower-than-expected loss that sent its shares soaring.

Chrysler's lenders and a Canadian union continued talks on Friday with less than a week to a U.S. government deadline to cut deals, as General Motors Corp drew $2 billion more in government aid.

Chrysler's lenders and a Canadian union continued talks with less than a week to a U.S. government deadline to cut deals, as Ford Motor Co posted a $1.4 billion loss that was less than analysts had expected.

Ford Motor Co posted a smaller-than-expected first-quarter loss and said it was on track to at least break even in 2011 and did not expect to seek U.S. government loans, sending its shares up as much as 20 percent.

With a week remaining for Chrysler LLC to clinch a deal with Italy's Fiat , the U.S. automaker is readying a bankruptcy plan but still focused on reaching an alliance with the support of the Obama administration, people with knowledge of the discussions said on Thursday.

Ford Motor Co posted a smaller-than-expected first-quarter loss and said it was on track to at least break even in 2011 and did not expect to seek U.S. government loans, sending its shares up more than 22 percent.

A powerful German labor leader poured scorn on the idea of a bid from Fiat for struggling German car maker Opel, saying on Friday he favored an investor such as Canadian car-part maker Magna.

Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is expected to post a large first-quarter net loss amid the global economic downturn that has pressured results in the United States, Western Europe and other developed economies.

General Motors Corp said on Thursday it would slash production over the next three months to cut its inventory of cars and trucks and avoid the risk of an uncontrolled shutdown from the financial crisis at bankrupt supplier Delphi Corp .

Struggling U.S. carmaker General Motors Corp is moving nearer to a deal to offload its Opel unit, having found a prospective buyer in Italy's Fiat SpA , an Opel supervisory board member said on Thursday.

Struggling U.S. carmaker General Motors Corp appeared set for a deal next week to offload a majority stake in its German unit Opel, having found a buyer in Italy's Fiat SpA , among others.

Fiat will sign on Tuesday a letter of intent to buy a majority stake in General Motors' struggling Opel unit, the website of German magazine Spiegel said on Thursday, citing sources.

If any of the big three U.S. automakers is forced to sell assets in a liquidation, their brands and patents may attract the most interest, while the manufacturing assets could be a tough sell.

Toyota Motor Corp said on Thursday its group-wide sales fell 27 percent to 1.767 million vehicles in the first quarter of 2009, keeping it ahead of Volkswagen AG as the world's top-selling carmaker.

Political allies of the U.S. auto industry expressed serious concern on Wednesday to senior White House officials about possible carmaker bankruptcies with Chrysler LLC facing an April 30 deadline to cement an alliance to avert probable insolvency.