Auto Industry, Earnings & Sales Reports | featured news

Ford Motor Co. is on a roll. Its popular new cars and trucks are grabbing a bigger share of the U.S. market. It's about to erase a big portion of its health care debts. And Ford is adding a significant number of jobs for the first time in years.

G.M. said Wednesday that it had positive cash flow of $1 billion in the six months after it emerged from bankruptcy protection last July, but that it lost $4.3 billion in that period, mostly because of the cost of settling with the United Auto Workers union over retiree health benefits, one of the burdens that helped bring the company to its knees.

Ford Motor Co. saw an increase in domestic sales this July over last, a Ford official told CNN Radio on Sunday. It was the first monthly sales gain claimed by a major automaker since the financial crisis began last year.

One-time restructuring gains gave Ford a quarterly profit of $2.3 billion, despite a loss at its automotive operations.

Hyundai Motors outshined its global rivals by reporting a record quarterly profit, as a weak won helped overseas sales and government incentives boosted domestic demand.

General Motors said its second-quarter sales fell 15% globally from a year earlier, but jumped from the prior period on strong demand in Asia.

CarMax posted only a 2.7% drop in profit despite sharply lower sales and losses at its auto-finance unit, as the used-car dealer's profit per vehicle sold rose.

Japan's Suzuki Motors avoids a loss in the final quarter, helped by growth in India, but is downbeat on its prospects.

The automaker blames a prolonged slump in global demand and a strong Japanese yen, and says this year will be even worse.

General Motors' financial woes continue as the automaker teetering on the edge of bankruptcy reported a $6 billion loss during the first three months of the year Thursday.