Toyota Motor plans to promote Akio Toyoda to president, marking the first time in 14 years that a member of the company's founding family will lead the automaker, the Nikkei business daily reported.

United Auto Workers union bargaining officials are arriving in Detroit this week to begin discussing wage and benefit concessions they must make so General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC can keep their federal loans.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it is negotiating with its workers in Japan to slash salaries as it stops production to adjust to slumping global demand.

Sales of imported vehicles in Japan plunged to a 15-year low in 2008 as consumers shied away from pricey foreign cars amid a deepening global downturn, an industry group said Thursday.

Auto executives across the globe are increasingly pessimistic about their industry, and only a small number expect their companies' profits to rise in the next five years, according to an annual survey.

Auto executives across the globe are increasingly pessimistic about their industry, and only a small number expect their companies' profits to rise in the next five years, according to an annual survey.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will slash more than 2,000 temporary jobs in Japan by the end of March as the country's fourth largest automaker struggles in the face of a severe slump in sales worldwide, media reports said Thursday.

Several auto industry analysts say Chrysler LLC's poor sales performance for 2008 shows that it won't generate enough cash to survive the year, and it likely will be sold in pieces or be acquired by another automaker. Details of Chrysler's sales year:

Even by the standards of battered automakers, Chrysler is in dire shape. Its sales in December were down a stunning 53 percent, far worse than Ford or General Motors, and analysts say it probably won't survive the year as an independent company — despite $4 billion in government loans and the possibility of more.

Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday it will delay the start of production at its first plant in Argentina for more than six months in the automaker's latest step to cope with a plunge in sales amid a deepening global downturn.

Stocks ended a topsy-turvy session higher as investors juggled a profit warning from Bank of America and some dismal economic news with optimism over the Obama stimulus plan.

Stocks were on their way back up again as investors shrugged of some disappointing economic data and kept an optimistic outlook about President-elect Obama's economic-stimulus plan.

Stocks pared their gains Tuesday after a reports showed pending-home sales and factory orders declined, while a measure of the service sector unexpectedly improved.

Orders to American factories are expected to have fallen again in November as manufacturers struggle with a global recession that has cut demand both in the U.S. and overseas.

Stocks were poised to rebound slightly Tuesday, as investors waited for some more data on the broader economy due shortly after the start of trading.