OHIO CARS AND AUTOMOTIVE NEWS

Auto Industry Sales and Business News

The district attorney's office accuses the automaker of knowingly selling hundreds of thousands of vehicles with acceleration defects. The office says it has the right to bring consumer protective action on behalf of Orange County residents. Full story »

General Motors Co. will keep making big trucks and SUVs because U.S. buyers demand them, but a major portion of them will be gas-electric hybrids in the near future, retiring Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said. Full story »

The British government says it's giving a $410 million loan guarantee to General Motors Co. to help keep its Vauxhall operations going in Britain. Full story »

Police say Toyota is sending an engineer to help investigate a suburban New York accident in which the driver said her Prius accelerated on its own and slammed into a stone wall. Full story »

Maynards Industries Ltd. of Canada offered $45.5 million for the 2 million-square-foot plant at an auction in New York on Wednesday. Judge Arthur Gonzalez had to sign off on the deal at a hearing this morning in his courtroom, also in New York, before it could be finalized. Full story »

Toyota's massive recalls are prompting Congress to reconsider whether the nation's auto safety agency has lived up to its mission of protecting motorists. Full story »

Reports of sudden acceleration in the Toyota Prius have spiked across the country. But that doesn't mean there's an epidemic of bad gas pedals in the popular hybrid. Experts on consumer psychology say the relentless negative media attention Toyota has received since the fall makes it much more likely that drivers will mistake anything unexpected -- or even a misplaced foot -- for actual danger. Full story »

Park Corp. lost its bid to buy Chrysler's Twinsburg stamping plant. The company said it raised its initial $27.5 million bid to $45 million, but another bidder offered more. Full story »

Laura Soave will oversee the Fiat product portfolio, beginning with the Fiat 500 compact car. Fiat brands have not been sold in North America for more than 25 years. Full story »

Brazil's Justice Ministry says it has fined the local Fiat subsidiary for failing to recall vehicles to fix a wheel problem that may have caused eight deaths. Full story »

The 2005 Prius' air bags deployed when the car hit the wall on Tuesday, toppling boulders. The driver, a 56-year-old woman, escaped serious injury, Harrison police Capt. Anthony Marraccini said. Full story »

Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons says the recall will cover Tundra pickups from the 2000-2003 model years. It expands upon a recall announced in November that covered 110,000 trucks registered in 20 "cold weather" states and the District of Columbia. Full story »

A high-ranking Toyota executive says the auto company's North American sales spiked around 50 percent the first eight days of March as incentives helped lure customers after a series of embarrassing safety recalls. Full story »

Toyota owners claiming that massive safety recalls are causing the value of their vehicles to plummet have filed at least 89 class-action lawsuits that could cost the Japanese auto giant $3 billion or more, according to an Associated Press review of cases, legal precedent and interviews with experts. Full story »

Federal officials are sending an investigator to determine what caused a Toyota Prius to race out of control on a California freeway. Full story »