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General Motors Co. announced on Friday a big recall of Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturn mid-size sedans to fix a transmission problem that could cause the cars to roll away after the driver has left the vehicle.

FLAT ROCK, Mich.—Ford is adding 1,200 workers to a suburban Detroit factory to build the Fusion, a sign of confidence that the revamped sedan will be a big seller.

Strong pickup demand fueled a big jump in U.S. auto sales last month. GM's August U.S. sales rose 10 percent compared with a year earlier, while Ford's rose 13 percent and Chrysler's 14 percent. Most automakers reported strong gains as Americans flowed into dealer showrooms, drawn by model-year closeouts, low-interest financing and appealing new models. Analysts expect overall sales to rise around 20 percent when companies finish reported later Tuesday.

A Hong Kong-owned company says it has completed the acquisition of bankrupt car maker Saab and will move ahead with its business plan to make electric cars under the Swedish brand.

Every week, Chrysler demonstrates some new phase of its determination to transform its three-year-old lifeline into solid viability — dare we even say, success? The company that has come to define corporate melodrama over the last 30 years looks more and more like the formidable long-term player that Chrysler never quite has been until now.

German carmaker Volkswagen AG says sales rose 11.9 percent in July as demand in Asia and the United States outweighed slacker sales in crisis-hit western Europe.

Honda wants to silence its critics when it rolls out the new Accord this week. The automaker, chastened for cheapening the Civic compact earlier this year, says that won't happen with the midsize Accord.

Dutch sportscar maker Spyker said on Wednesday that General Motors has been served with the complaint that Spyker filed against it earlier this week and that GM is due to respond by August 28.

Dutch sportscar maker Spyker is suing General Motors for $3 billion on behalf of its subsidiary Saab, accusing the U.S. automaker of deliberately bankrupting the Swedish group by blocking a deal with a Chinese investor.

Toyota has surged back from a downturn following the natural disasters in Japan last year and is expecting to sell 23 percent more vehicles than it did in 2011.