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.

Dozens of Somali Islamist insurgents entered a port on Friday in search of the pirate group behind the seizure of a Saudi supertanker that was the world's biggest hijack, a local elder said.

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.

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.

A.P. Moller-Maersk, one of the world's biggest shipping firms, said on Thursday it was re-routing some of its huge merchant fleet to avoid the Gulf of Aden because of piracy.

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.

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.

Boeing said on Wednesday it would cut about 800 jobs, or one-quarter of the staff, from its defense unit operations in Wichita, Kansas.

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:

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.

Senate negotiators sought to craft a compromise plan to bail out US auto makers, though prospects for a deal before Congress adjourns for the year still appeared remote.

President George W. Bush has been briefed about increasing attacks by Somali pirates off east Africa, and the United States is consulting with other U.N. Security Council members on ways to combat the threat, the White House said Wednesday.

Plane maker Boeing is reworking its entire production schedule, adding up to 10 weeks to original delivery dates for all 3,734 jetliners in its order backlog as it tries to recover from a machinists' strike, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.

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.

Ford Motor, scrambling for cash as the U.S. Big Three automakers struggle to stay alive, will end 12 years of control of Mazda Motor through the sale of a 20 percent stake in the
Japanese carmaker.