Auto Dealer News

The grip on the credit markets loosened just barely on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve said it would buy commercial paper, the unsecured short-term debt that companies sell for their short-term cash needs.

ATLANTA - The company with the nation's largest chain of Chevrolet dealerships violated federal labor law when it fired thousands of employees last month, according to a lawsuit filed by a former worker.

The chairwoman of the National Automobile Dealers Association says the credit crunch and economic problems are likely to cause 700 auto dealers to go under this year.

Tough economic conditions are adversely affecting car dealerships, slowing shopping traffic to a crawl and causing those who want to buy to have trouble getting a loan.

The Automobile Parts & Supplies Wholesales report, published annually, contains timely and accurate industry statistics, forecasts and demographics.

Fitch Ratings downgraded Ford Motor Co.'s credit rating deeper into junk status Monday as economic worries dragged down auto shares along with stock markets around the globe.

Peninsula car dealerships said last week that their September sales numbers mimicked a national slump - and the situation may get worse for the notoriously slow months of October and November.

Employed too many people. Stocked too much inventory. Spent too freely on advertising.

DETROIT - Rising demand for small cars has pushed Ford Motor Co. to revisit its decision not to bring the tiny European Ka model to the United States, Ford's chief executive said today.

Sales of new cars in Britain fell by 21.2 per cent last month - the biggest September drop in nine years.

The era of easy auto loans has come skidding to a halt. Mortgages were among the first consumer products to be hit by the credit-market freeze.

Generation Motors in Modesto shut its doors Friday morning, an apparent victim of the sluggish economy that has toppled auto dealerships nationwide.

Hundreds of thousands of new cars and trucks that would have quickly made their way to people's driveways a year ago are now stacking up on dealer lots across the country, with potential buyers worried about ...

Relief on Wall Street over the hard-won passage of a $700 billion bailout package for the financial system apparently hasn't yet trickled down to the pubs, storefronts, car lots and malls of Main Street.

U.S. auto sales slid 27 percent in September from the same month last year, the industry's worst performance since February 1993, analysts said, and Nissan North America felt more pain than any other car maker.

CLEVELAND: The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says it has filed a lawsuit alleging that a Cleveland-area car dealership subjected black employees to racial discrimination and retaliation.

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG , Ford Motor Co. and France's Renault SA said a slump in car sales may be more prolonged than manufacturers have anticipated.

The Toyota Motor Corp in the US has responded to low car sales figures by allowing customers to buy at a zero-percent interest financing plan.

Associated Press A October 3, 2008 A MEDFORD, Ore. -- Auto retailer Lithia Motors Inc.

Last Saturday, 100 or so people shopped the lot at Empire Suzuki in Plano in what should have been a sunny day for car sales.