Major automakers are expected to post steep declines in U.S. sales for May, as the spike in gasoline prices battered an industry already reeling from weak consumer confidence and tighter credit.
Weak U.S. sales in May would add to growing concerns that the world’s largest market for vehicles is headed for a deeper downturn this year, [...]

Last we looked, none of Ontario’s auto plants were located in Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Ottawa-area riding. Yet the premier has been consistently supportive of Canada’s largest manufacturing sector, the powerhouse of Canada’s largest provincial economy.
When General Motors Corp. announced about 970 layoffs at its Oshawa complex last week, McGuinty popped up a day later to [...]

By David Bailey and Soyoung Kim
DETROIT (Reuters) - Investors led by Appaloosa Management backed out of a $2.55 billion equity deal to support Delphi Corp’s DPHIQ.PK emergence from bankruptcy on Friday, dealing a blow to General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and its goal of putting the problems of its [...]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The big three U.S. auto makers are preparing cost cuts and other belt-tightening measures in case a slumping U.S. economy hurts sales more than expected, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
The Journal said General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has pushed some capital expenses from [...]

“We’re in the belly of the recession beast right now and all we really can do is take defensive action,” said Bernard Baumohl, managing director of the Economic Outlook Group. The Commerce Department reported that consumers, hit by falling home values, job losses, high energy costs and a severe credit [...]

By Blaise Robinson
PARIS, April 2 (Reuters) - European stocks rose in early
trade on Wednesday, adding to the previous session’s hefty gains
as optimism that the worst might be over in the global credit
crisis fuelled an extended rally in banking shares.
But the gains were limited by retreating auto stocks, on [...]

By Karey Wutkowski
NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Co’s
(7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) youthful urban brand Scion is considering adding a
new model with a “polarizing” design to its line-up and
surveying current Scion drivers about the kind of vehicle
they would like to see, a senior executive said on
Thursday.
Dawn [...]

The result, executives say, has been higher production and inventory costs and headaches for customers and dealers in sorting through a complex matrix of choices.Now, Ford Motor Co. and other embattled automakers are going back to black, embracing the spirit of Ford’s notion in response to mounting losses and the risk of a deeper downturn [...]

(Adds company items, futures; updates snapshot)
PARIS, April 2 (Reuters) - European equities were expected to rise on
Wednesday, extending the previous day’s sharp rally as investors’ optimism that
the worst of the credit crisis may be over continues to boost equity markets
worldwide.
At 0623 GMT June Stoxx50 futures STXEM8 were up [...]

By David Bailey
DETROIT (Reuters) - Auto sales dropped 12 percent in March in a decline blamed on shaky consumer confidence, high fuel prices and concern that a housing market downturn could spread into a full recession.
All three Detroit-based automakers posted declines on Tuesday. Toyota Motor Co (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research), No. [...]