carmakers

The Detroit carmakers posted double-digit increases in sales for the year as December finished with a flourish.

Government officials called for the country’s automakers to shift away from making more cars and toward producing more fuel-efficient and technologically advanced ones.

At next week’s contract talks, carmakers and the United Automobile Workers union will square off over how to divide the profits of Detroit’s unexpectedly swift revival.

May 3 -- David Cole, chairman of AutoHarvest and chairman emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research, discusses the outlook for the automobile industry.

It might sound like a response to a question no one was asking, but Mitsubishi Motors CEO Osamu Masuko says he's not even thinking about leaving the U.S. market.

Mitsubishi, like many other carmakers, has struggle over the past decade, but Masuko says the U.S. will remain at the core of Mitsubishi's plan for the foreseeable future.

All three Detroit automakers reported small increases, but Toyota said its sales fell 3.2 percent from July 2009.

Toyota, struggling with two large recalls, said that its sales in the United States fell 16 percent in January, even as other carmakers reported higher sales.

Big automakers are glad to see the end of 2009, the worst year for U.S. sales in nearly 30 years.

Volkswagen AG will buy a 20 percent stake in Suzuki Motor Corp. for 222.5 billion yen ($2.5 billion), forming one of the world's biggest auto alliances and giving the two carmakers a boost in fast-growing Asian markets.

One of the first carmakers to report U.S. monthly sales, Ford said its sales of cars and crossover vehicles increased 18 percent, while trucks and sport-utility vehicles fell 19 percent.