Sales of many high-end luxury cars are bucking the trend of plummeting car sales, and their makers and industry watchers at the Los Angeles Auto Show this week are confident that they will weather the industry downturn just fine.

Stocks plunged Thursday as anxiety about the economy and the government's wheel-spinning on the auto bailout and TARP plagued the market throughout the day, culminating in a massive final hour selloff. The Dow ended below 7,600, a more than five-year low. The S&P closed at an 11 1/2-year low.

Honda Motor will cut another 18,000 units from its planned production in the United States in response to the downturn in industrywide auto sales, the company said Thursday.

Stocks wobbled as key lawmakers said an auto bailout deal might have to wait until December.

Democratic congressional leaders rejected a compromise plan to help battered US auto makers, saying the industry needs to come up with a business plan before it receives any money.

Stocks opened sharply lower Thursday as jobless claims hit a 16-year high, exacerbating anxiety in the market about the faltering auto bailout and uncertainty about the TARP plan.

Chrysler hopes to restart merger talks with General Motors if the government comes up with a bailout package for automakers, the Financial Times reported Thursday.

Futures tumbled Thursday after jobless claims jumped to a 16-year high. This followed Wednesday's crushing selloff that saw the Dow close below 8,000 for the first time in more than five years.

French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen plans to cut 2,700 jobs and said on Thursday that due to the financial crisis and the sector's turmoil car sale volumes in main European markets would drop by at least 10 percent in 2009 and 17 percent in the fourth quarter.

Many of the world's biggest automakers detailed ambitious electric-car plans that promise zero emissions but will demand patience from consumers and subsidies from governments to succeed.

As Capitol Hill wrestles with a bailout of the Big Three Detroit automakers, CNBC decided to look into the Senate representation of the U.S. automotive manufacturing base. What follows is a state-by-state compilation of auto plants:

Stocks plunged to a more than five-year low amid worries about the fate of the auto industry — and the economy — as a bailout for the sector grows increasingly unlikely.

If Congress turns its back on the Big Three auto makers—as many expect—investors probably won't drive the stock market off a cliff.

Stocks declined Tuesday amid worries about the fate of the auto industry as a bailout grows increasingly unlikely.

U.S. auto executives warned Congress that their industry was teetering on the brink of disaster as they pleaded for a $25 billion aid package.