Eric Weiss was stopped at a busy Long Beach, Calif., intersection last month when he said his 2008 Toyota Tacoma pickup unexpectedly started accelerating, forcing him to stand on the brakes to keep the bucking truck from plowing into oncoming cars.

  General Motors Co. will get small-car serious at the Los Angeles Auto Show when it takes the wraps off the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze. The Cruze will feature small, efficient engines and a six-speed transmission that will help it achieve up to 40 mpg on the highway.

  Germany's premium car manufacturers have weathered the recession without taking on too much water, but the long-term prospects for Mercedes, Audi, Porsche, and particularly BMW are starting to sound alarm bells.

  Mansfield, Ohio -- General Motors Co. says production at a stamping plant in Ohio is expected to end Jan. 29.

  Just a few years ago, I would question the value of any navigation system. The cost didn't justify the benefit. Why would anyone pay a few thousand dollars for a digital map -- especially when you could buy a high-tech, hand-held system for a few hundred dollars or a paper one for 99 cents?

  Washington -- The Obama administration's top auto adviser expects General Motors Co. to make an initial public offering of its stock by the end of 2010.

  Potential suitors for General Motors Co.'s Saab Automobile are surfacing a week after the collapse of a deal to sell the Swedish carmaker to Koenigsegg Group.

  Russia will take on the bulk of the effort to restructure AvtoVAZ, its biggest automaker, under the terms of an accord signed Friday between AvtoVAZ's Russian shareholders and Renault SA.

  Ron Bloom expects General Motors to hold a stock offering by the end of 2010. But he said Chrysler's public offering is still farther away.

  Frankfurt -- Germany's Volkswagen AG today announced plans to invest $3.5 billion in Brazil and said it hopes to be building a million vehicles a year in the country by 2014.