Even as the Canadian Auto Workers union was negotiating its new labour contracts with the Detroit Three this spring, the U.S. market for pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles was collapsing.
Sales were plunging faster than anyone in the union realized and so quickly that even senior executives at Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General [...]

China’s fast-rising auto makers, enjoying spectacular growth in domestic and emerging markets, Auto Sales are postponing their ambitions in North America as they focus on easier markets in the near term.
The biggest Chinese auto makers, which had earlier signalled that they might enter North America as early as next year, are now admitting that they [...]

“It’s been devastating,” Epperson said. “Florida is mentioned by many retailers as certainly one of the worst states in the country.”
John Purvis, who owns Showcase Furniture in Mount Dora, said his store has experienced a 40 percent to 50 percent drop in sales since the peak of the housing boom. And Furniture Country Galleries, a [...]

America’s Car-Mart, Inc. (CRMT) is an automobile retailer with 90 dealerships in eight Southern states. The company’s concept is ‘buy here-pay here.’ Customers can purchase, finance and make payments on a vehicle all the same location.
CRMT, a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy), reported third-quarter earnings on March 4 and surprised by 12%. Profit came in [...]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has quietly amassed a large stake in department store operator J.C. Penney Co Inc (JCP.N: Quote, Profile, Research), The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The article said that while the exact size of the stake is unclear, [...]

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Orange County Fire Rescue and Florida Highway Patrol helped an Olympia High School class put on a mock DUI scene to show juniors and seniors the perils of drinking and driving. The scene, presented on Thursday at the campus, involved a young man and his [...]

(Adds details, share movement)
Jan 24 (Reuters) - Operator of auto repair chains Monro
Muffler Brake Inc (MNRO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) posted higher third-quarter earnings
even as sales of its more expensive products and services were
hurt by tight consumer spending, and forecast 2008 profit above
analysts’ view, sending shares up 7 percent.
For the [...]

The company will still charge a fee to companies that sell software built using this information. But Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie described the fees as “low royalty rates.”Microsoft said it posted 30,000 pages of documents online that level the playing field for non-Microsoft developers, and announced plans to add more.Bob Muglia, a senior vice [...]

U.S. Economy: Confidence Drops, Factories Stagnate (Update2)
By Bob Willis and Courtney Schlisserman
Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) — Confidence among American consumers
slumped to the lowest level since 1992 and factory output failed
to increase, indicating the damage from the housing contraction
is pushing the [...]

Magna May Get Biggest Share of Plastech Business (Update1)
By Alex Ortolani and Michael Ramsey
Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) — Magna International Inc., Canada;s
largest auto-parts maker, may get the biggest share of $200
million in work that Chrysler LLC wants to take away [...]