After nearly a year of flagging sales, low gas prices and fat incentives are reigniting America's taste for big vehicles.
Chrysler LLC will cut 1,825 jobs by eliminating one shift at a Toledo Jeep plant and accelerating the closure of its sport utility vehicle factory in Newark, Del., because of the slowing global economy and a shift toward smaller vehicles
Motor Trend magazine has picked the 2009 Subaru Forester as its sport utility vehicle of the year, citing its fuel efficiency, comfort on the road and competency off the pavement.
The government is urging owners of 5 million recalled Ford vehicles to bring them to dealerships to repair a cruise control switch system that has been tied to engine fires
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has put out another recall warning the owners of some Ford, Lincoln and Mercury SUV's, pickup trucks, vans and cars that their vehicles have a defect that could cause them to catch fire at any time.
Falling gasoline prices were not enough to revive sales of SUVs and pickups in August as major automakers all reported a sharp fall in sales once again. And Ford Motor warned it sees even tougher times ahead.
General Motors is recalling 944,000 vehicles, 850,000 of them in the United States, because of the potential for a fire in the vehicles' heated windshield washer fluid system.
General Motors Corp. said Friday it was recalling 944,000 vehicles because of a problem with a windshield wiper fluid system that could lead to a fire
Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it will spend $75 million to retool part of its Michigan Truck factory to make car bodies, part of the automaker's plan to convert some truck factories to make smaller vehicles
Four small sport utility vehicles received top scores in crash tests to be released Wednesday by the insurance industry, a sign of improvement compared with SUVs built earlier in the decade
Chrysler LLC Vice Chairman Tom LaSorda said Wednesday his company will invest $1.8 billion to expand a Detroit assembly plant and retool it to make a new car-based sport utility vehicle
General Motors Corp. said Monday it will cut production by another 117,000 vehicles, citing continued weak in consumer demand for pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles
Ford Motor Co. announced plans to transform its vehicle lineup on Thursday and reported the largest quarterly loss in its 105-year history.
The latest crash tests by the insurance industry raise safety questions about small pickups
General Motors Corp. told dealers Monday it plans to raise prices on 2009 models by an average of 3.5% despite a tough market that is forcing the automaker to cut production and discount its 2008 models
With sales of full-size pickups in a steep decline, Ford Motor Co. said Friday it is delaying the launch of its new, redesigned Ford F-150 pick-up by two months.
Until recently, big SUVs had resisted the sales declines hitting their smaller, mid-size brethren. That was because large SUV drivers were hard-core - they really needed interior room and pulling power, and they weren't about to switch to car-like crossovers.
Oil prices have some drivers looking for new rides, but some truck and sport-utility vehicle owners are remaining true to their gas guzzlers. They say, $4-a-gallon gas be damned; they need the space.
General Motors Corp. officially blew up its old business model Tuesday, closing four pickup truck and sport utility vehicle factories, announcing a new small car
General Motors announced plans Tuesday to shut four truck and SUV plants that employ thousands of workers. It also said high gas prices are here to stay - and, with them, consumers' growing preference for more fuel-efficient vehicles.
It appears that the prospect of $4 gas finally has Americans getting serious about fuel economy.
updated: Fri May 23 2008 16:05:00
CNN's Chris Lawrence reports on people trying to sell their SUVs and buy smaller cars.
Jorge Fernandez strolls across the used-car parking lot littered with dozens upon dozens of sport utility vehicles the size of small tugboats.
Ford Motor Co. executives say they believe that $4 gas is here to stay, resulting in a fundamental consumer shift away from gas-guzzling SUVs and pickups and causing continued losses at its core North American auto unit.
The dwindling U.S. auto market and an accelerating shift from trucks to cars has brought grim layoff news to four General Motors Corp. factories.
Sky-high gas prices bring fuel economy front and center when it comes to buying a new car. But if you're not careful, your bargain gas-sipper could wind up costing you a lot more in the long-run.
Midsize SUVs are becoming safer, but side and rear impact crashes remain a weakness, according to recent testing by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a formal investigation into possible fires in General Motors' new full-size SUV.
General Motors' Chevrolet Malibu mid-size sedan, radically redesigned for the 2008 model year, won the North American Car of the Year Award Sunday at the first media preview day for the Detroit auto show.
Not too long ago, uttering the phrase "diesel engine" was enough to elicit a wince from car buyers whose memories of previous-generation diesels often consisted of knocking engine noise, that distinctly-diesel fragrance, and plumes of blue smoke curling from the tailpipe.
Never easy, the automobile business has gotten exponentially more difficult in recent months, as manufacturers rewrite their new model plans to cope with the eventual tightening of fuel economy standards.
Motor Trend Magazine named the full-size Toyota Tundra its Truck of the Year for 2008 on Tuesday.
The winner of this year's Green Car of the Year doesn't look a thing like the award's past winners. It's a full-sized SUV.
The number of new cars considered the safest by the insurance industry nearly tripled in the past year
It wasn't just jobs that Chrysler LLC cut on Thursday. The automaker knocked out some cars as well.
General Motors announced Tuesday that it would invest $73 million to outfit its Shreveport, La. factory to build a new Hummer pickup called the Hummer H3T.
Outrage. Disbelief. Downright disgust. Those were readers' reactions to our recent story about 13 great fuel efficient cars, which featured several trucks and SUVs.
While all offer reasonable protection from front impacts, there are big differences in side impact protection among six truck-based SUVs, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
By keeping your car for 15 years, or 225,000 miles of driving, you could save nearly $31,000, according to Consumer Reports magazine. That's compared to the cost of buying an identical model every five years, which is roughly the rate at which most car owners trade in their vehicles.
General Motors of Canada will cut about 1,100 jobs at a truck plant in Ontario amid slumping pickup sales, the company said Thursday.
General Motors Corp. says it's cutting scheduled overtime hours in six plants to avoid excessive inventories of full-size pickups and SUVs after high fuel prices and a weak housing market have softened demand.
While there is some genuinely encouraging news in General Motors' announcement today of $891 million in second-quarter profits, a closer look at today's earnings announcement provides a glimpse of the challenges that GM is going to face in the future.
Two-thirds of pickups, vans and sport-utility vehicles don't provide acceptable protection against whiplash in rear-end collisions, according to tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
Chrysler Group on Thursday said it would roll out new hybrid vehicles, streamline its cars and trucks and introduce more diesel engines in a bid to improve the fuel economy of its product line-up.
Honda Civics, both new and used, are the most popular cars among teenage drivers, according to a recent survey.
You don't see any on the streets of Manhattan, but almost everywhere else, the homely pickup truck is America's common carrier. GM, Ford and Chrysler sell more pickups than do they anything else, more than two million a year in good times. In addition to high volume, pickups also produce high profits because they are relatively isolated from foreign competition.
With rising gas prices, diesel cars and SUVs are gearing up for a major American comeback after a brief appearance 25 years ago. But if all you remember are the smell and noise, you might not recognize the new leaner, cleaner versions.
Chrysler Group announced Monday that the gas/electric hybrid Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen SUVs to be released in 2008 will be powered by the company's 5.7-liter Hemi V8 engine.
As car buyers in every market segment turn to smooth-riding, car-based, crossover SUVs, Jeep has a new hit on its hands. But it's not the small Compass on-roader.
This week marks the opening of the spring selling season for automakers and dealers. Get ready for some especially intense activity.
Registrations of new hybrid vehicles in the United States increased 28 percent in 2006, but that was the second-smallest increase since 2000, and represented just 1.5 percent of new vehicle registrations, R.L. Polk & Co. said Monday.
Of course, the idea of GM buying Chrysler is preposterous. GM's biggest problem is overcapacity, and Chrysler is full of things that GM already has too much of: assembly plants, workers, retirees, car brands, car models, and dealers.
Patience with Chrysler at DaimlerChrysler headquarters in Stuttgart seems to have run out. After the U.S. automaker plunged into a billion-dollar loss for the third time since the 1998 merger, Daimler now seems ready to set Chrysler free. Its supervisory board (equivalent to a U.S. board of directors) declared Wednesday that it will "consider other, more far-reaching strategic options with partners in order to support and facilitate" Chrysler's restructuring. Then it added, "No option is being excluded."
General Motors will unveil a new compact car for its Saturn division at the Chicago Auto Show on Wednesday.
General Motors and Ford Motor ended a difficult year with another plunge in U.S. sales, while Chrysler Group reported an unexpected rise in sales in the month, although it wasn't enough to stop its parent, DaimlerChrysler, from falling to fourth place in full-year U.S. sales for the first time.
The redesigned 2007 Chevrolet Silverado has been chosen as Truck of the Year by Motor Trend Magazine.
The Toyota Rav4 outranks luxury SUVs costing as much as $13,000 more in a new round-up of mid-sized crossover SUVs by the magazine Consumer Reports.
In the corporate imagination of General Motors, Hummer could be transformed from the SUV that environmentalists love to hate to an algae-infused, oxygen-exuding buggy that would open up like a flower.
General Motors is working on a plug-in hybrid version of its redesigned Saturn Vue SUV, the company's CEO announced today at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.is looking to enter the U.S. market and has signed an agreement with independent distributor Global Vehicles U.S.A. Inc., a spokesman for the distributor said on Monday.
General Motors Corp. will likely launch a new Hummer truck in 2009, the head of the niche brand told Reuters on Wednesday.
Car lots are filling up and auto makers are offering big discounts on several SUVs and trucks to clear inventory, Edmunds.com said Thursday.
The Prius shortage may be ending, according to a report published Monday
The National Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into reports of fires in some Ford Escape and Mazda Tribute small SUVs.
Who can remember all the way back to last summer, when we had daylight-saving-time, baseball and $3 a gallon gasoline prices?
Yes, there are still SUV drivers who actually do go off-road. And there are still SUVs built to take abuse from rocks and ruts, not just tantrum-throwing four-year-olds.
When Toyota introduced the car-based crossover in 1996, it created the "vehicle category that ate everything."
Mercedes-Benz's GL-class and R-class SUVs are the top-ranked choices in a Consumer Reports rating of five top luxury SUVs.
At the 2006 Paris Motor Show, which opens to the press on Thursday, Dodge will unveil a new Avenger sedan concept.
For some reason, the emotional experience I had with the new Jeep Compass was the opposite of what I'd experienced with its Chrysler Group sibling, the Dodge Caliber.
General Motors Corp. will introduce a new V-8 turbo-diesel for its light trucks such as pickups and SUVs after 2009.
With so many automakers having problems, there's more than usual riding on the 2007 model year vehicles now starting to roll off assembly lines.
Ford Motor Co. slashed its production plans and announced that 10 North American plants will be shut for extended periods much of the rest of the year as it tries to trim costs and deal with slumping sales of its light trucks.
These 2003 model year cars ranked at the top of their respective vehicle classes in the 2006 J.D. Power and Associates Vehicle Dependability Study.
SO YOU'RE FEELING THE PAIN AT THE PUMP, and you're thinking about getting a smaller car. It's just that they're so...small. How could you feel safe, when SUVs still roam the highways? Easy, says Da...
A highly automated Chrysler plant is experiencing technical problems that are slowing the production of the hot-selling Dodge Caliber hatchback, according to a published report.
Let's get this fuel economy issue out of the way right off: The Chevrolet Avalanche is not a vehicle I would recommend to anyone who really wants to save gas.
Ten years ago this month, Fortune published a story I wrote headlined "Death of the Sport Utility Foretold." In it, I argued that crossover SUVs (which we called "SUV Lites" at the time) would eventually replace conventional truck-based ones because they are lighter, cheaper, and more entertaining to drive.
With gasoline at $3.20 a gallon where I live, does anyone need another seven-passenger SUV? A more fuel-efficient minivan - if you can stand the soccer mom image - will carry as many people and drink less gas.
The new 2006 Hyundai Azera ranked first among large cars in a J.D. Power survey that rates vehicles by how well new owners like them. The closely-related Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 tied for second place in the category.
GM, which has trailed some of its competitors in offering fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles, is looking at a new version known as "plug-in hybrids" not yet on the market, which can offer drivers even better mileage, according to someone familiar with company plans.
Although it has been around for more than 100 years, GMC is the auto industry's forgotten brand. Even its history is shrouded in mystery.
Perhaps not surprisingly, a new survey reveals that most mothers drive SUVs. And if they could drive any vehicle at all? They'd want a nicer SUV.
Sales at Detroit's Big Three automakers tumbled in April while Japanese automakers gained, the companies said Tuesday.
In creating its first gas-saving hybrid vehicle for the mass market, General Motors took the cheap way out. This time, it could prove to be a very smart move.
The iconic Jeep Wrangler adds an unheard-of feature in a version unveiled Wednesday at the New York Auto Show. For the 2007 model year, Wrangler buyers can get one with four doors.
Ford Motor's sales fell in March as demand for its sport utility vehicles slumped, while rival DaimlerChrysler's sales rose on the strength of its luxury brand.
Not too long ago, if you wanted a real high-performance vehicle -- one that started fast, accelerated quickly and cornered hard -- you bought a sports car.
Let me say right at the top that Toyota's FJ Cruiser isn't my kind of vehicle. The truck is designed to climb rocks instead of dodge highway potholes, and its Mars Lander styling will appeal to single, 30-year-old males, a tribe I was banished from long ago.
Let me say right at the top that Toyota's FJ Cruiser isn't my kind of vehicle. The truck is designed to climb rocks instead of dodge highway potholes, and its Mars Lander styling will appeal to sin...
MONEY's car tests don't involve stopwatches. Instead, trunks are loaded up, kids shuttled, vehicles parallel-parked--in other words, what you do with your car in the real world. Value is the other ...
If you've paid any attention to the news coming out of the auto industry, you know it's been a tumultuous time. In the past year alone, a fuel crunch has put a crimp in the sales of SUVs (Detroit's...
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The Consumer Federation of America held a press conference Monday to announce that you can save money on fuel each year by choosing vehicles carefully.
Consumers could save a nice chunk of change at the pump just by choosing carefully at the dealership, a consumer protection group said Monday.
If you've paid any attention to the news coming out of the auto industry, you know it's been a tumultuous time.
To say that Land Rover vehicles are boxy is a cliche, though that doesn't make it less true. The boxiest of the boxy is a chunkster known as the LR3, which looks something like this: [box]. I pilot...
If you laugh in the face of high fuel prices...if nothing makes you happier than looking down on those tiny Hummers and F-250 Super Duty pickups...and if you don't have six figures to spend...International Truck has a ride for you.
Ford Motor Co. is unveiling a redesigned Lincoln Navigator at the Chicago Auto Show today.
Does this sound like a strange idea to anyone else? A Jeep that goes zero-to-sixty in under five seconds. But you can't take it off road. Not even a little bit off road.
It may come as a shock to hometown boosters in New York, Los Angeles and Detroit, but the biggest auto show in North America opens on Feb. 8 and it isn't in any of those cities. Instead it fills the cavernous spaces of McCormick Place in Chicago and draws more potential customers than exhibitions in those lesser cities. Expect it to make plenty of news this year.
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