GM to Sell Hummer to China’s Tengzhong, Helping Shed Brands
from Bloomberg
General Motors Corp., seeking to shed assets to emerge from bankruptcy, agreed to sell the Hummer sport-utility vehicle brand to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. More

Ford Revs Up Production, Market Share
from The Detroit News
Ford Motor Co. is boosting production for the second time this quarter -- an action in sharp contrast to the factory shutdowns taking place at its bankrupt cross-town rivals. But General Motors Corp.'s bankruptcy filing, which will eliminate much of that company's debt, also creates new challenges for the Dearborn automaker, particularly with the financing of its vehicles. More

Freight Down Until 2010
from Fleet Owner
Truckers larger and small will need to keep their belts tightened into the early part of next year before they can expect to see freight volumes start increasing, according to the latest industry analysis compiled by FTR Associates. In a conference call with reporters last week, FTR analysts noted that for freight to start recovering, it must "reach a bottom first" and they predicted the bottom will be reached in the third to fourth quarter of this year. More

More GM Dealers Set to Close
from The Detroit News
General Motors Corp. is eliminating more dealers than initially reported and taking a tough stance with the rest of its retailers who must agree to stricter sales and performance targets or be eliminated in bankruptcy court. Dealers nationwide started receiving letters last week that outline higher standards that essentially replace contracts voided when GM filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday. GM initially notified about 1,100 dealerships last month that their franchise agreements would not be renewed next year, but 250 more dealers were added to the list Thursday. More

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Chrysler Begins No-Interest Financing Through GMAC
from Bloomberg
Chrysler LLC, seeking to shrink inventory while in bankruptcy, began offering five-year, no- interest loans on some models in its first effort to use new lender GMAC LLC for incentives. The financing, which was announced today, runs through July 1 and is an alternative to rebates of as much as $6,000 for consumers who buy through certain credit unions and already own a Chrysler vehicle. The cash option was put in place last month. More

April Factory Orders Improve
from Transport Topics
U.S. factory orders rose in April for the second time in three months, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The 0.7 percent gain followed a revised 1.9 percent drop in March about twice the decline originally reported. More

Jobless Benefit Rolls Fall, Initial Claims Dip
from Yahoo! News
The number of people on the unemployment insurance rolls fell slightly for the first time in 20 weeks, while the tally of new jobless claims also dipped, the government said. More