COMPANIES

Honda Motor Co plans to sell a hybrid version of its popular Fit compact car at around 1.59 million yen ($18,600), making it the cheapest hybrid in Japan when it goes on sale in October.

Ford Motor is planning to win back its investment grade credit rating that it lost in 2005, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.

BMW, the world's biggest premium car maker, increased sales volumes of its flagship BMW brand by 12 percent in July thanks largely to soaring demand in China.

Car sales in China rose at their slowest in 15 months in July as the world's largest auto market cooled further after a roaring 2009, but Indian sales hit a record high thanks to sound economic prospects and new models.

Mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB) on Monday said it would need another $1.8 billion in aid from taxpayers, bringing its total request since it was taken over by the government two years ago to more than $64 billion.

A smaller percentage of U.S. homeowners were saddled with underwater mortgages in the second quarter as more homes entered the foreclosure process even as price declines slowed, real estate website Zillow.com said on Monday.

Toyota Motor Corp remains confident its electronic controls have not failed and has made about 80 percent of the U.S. repairs under the recall for sticky accelerator pedals.

General Motors Co is increasing its advertisement spending to the levels seen prior to its bankruptcy filing, Joel Ewanick, the car maker's marketing chief, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview.

General Motors India will launch a range of mini-trucks and passenger vehicles in its joint venture with China's SAIC two years from now.

General Motors Co is considering reopening one of the auto plants it closed as it went through bankruptcy in 2009

Hyundai Motor Co, South Korea's top automaker, aims to sell about 17 percent more cars in India this year as the fast-growing south Asian country boosts consumer spending, a top official said on Friday.

Canadian auto parts maker Magna International swung back to profit in the second quarter, with sales up about two-thirds on the back of a revival in the battered North American car market.

General Motors Co has begun work on an initial public offering of stock that could be the largest ever for the U.S. market, the automaker's Chief Executive Ed Whitacre said on Thursday.

President Barack Obama lambasted Republicans on Thursday for opposing his auto company bailouts and unveiled a new loan guarantee for Ford Motor Co to help meet his goal of doubling U.S. exports over five years.

Mortgage rates fell in the past week to the latest in a series of record lows amid concerns about the state of the economy, according to a survey released on Thursday by Freddie Mac.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank said on Thursday it approved a loan guarantee for Ford Motor Co to finance $3.1 billion in exports of cars and trucks to customers in Canada and Mexico.

Germany's luxury carmaker BMW expects its China car sales to rise more than 30 percent this year, boosted by the country's robust economic growth

India's Mahindra & Mahindra is planning bid up to $400 million for troubled South Korean automaker Ssangyong Motor, sources said, as it seeks to become a major global utility vehicles maker.

The announcement that a search for a successor to Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata group, has begun was every bit as understated as the man who has steered India's second-biggest conglomerate for nearly two decades.

India's top car maker Maruti Suzuki may manufacture cars for German auto firm Volkswagen's global market on a contract basis, three newspapers said on Thursday, citing Maruti's managing director.

As many as 50,000 struggling homeowners in five U.S. states with high unemployment may receive help from a special $600 million federal fund intended to head off foreclosures.

The demand for mortgage applications to purchase homes rose last week for a third straight week as interest rates tumbled

The demand for U.S. mortgage applications to purchase homes rose last week for a third straight week as interest rates tumbled

Toyota Motor Corp's biggest quarterly profit in two years and a hike in its annual forecasts failed to allay concerns about the strength in the yen, weak margins and a faltering U.S. market.

General Motors' venture capital unit is buying a minority stake in electric car start-up Bright Automotive to advance the development of fuel-efficient vehicle technologies.

Ford Motor Co said on Wednesday it would expand by 635 jobs a commitment to bring work to its U.S. unionized plants by 2012 that has been performed by parts suppliers.

The Chinese government will invest more than 100 billion yuan ($14.8 billion) to subsidize its fledgling environmentally friendly car industry over the next 10 years.

Toyota Motor Co ignored evidence of acceleration problems in its vehicles for most of the past decade and failed to install a brake override system it knew could have prevented accidents.

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co President and Chief Executive Richard Kramer has been elected chairman of the largest U.S. tire maker effective October 1, the company said on Tuesday.