DETROIT (Reuters) – Detroit’s automakers showed December U.S. sales gains of 5 percent, slightly better than analysts’ expectations, but likely not enough to stave off market-share gains by Japanese rivals.

General Motors Co (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) posted sales growth of 5 percent compared with the previous December, Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) increased sales 2 percent and Chrysler Group LLC’s sales rose 10 percent.

DETROIT, Dec 28 (Reuters) – Nissan Motor Co Ltd
said it will offer to replace some poorly performing batteries
on its Leaf electric car and improve warranty coverage for the
battery systems for its almost 20,000 U.S. owners.

The move comes as the Japanese automaker closes a year
marked by disappointing sales and complaints by some U.S.
customers about the Leaf’s battery capacity.

DETROIT/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) eliminated a huge obstacle with a U.S. settlement over unintended acceleration in its cars and trucks, leaving it to fight smaller cases that will be harder for plaintiffs to prove and less likely to damage the company’s growing sales.

While the Japanese automaker still faces possibly hundreds of personal injury lawsuits related to claims that its vehicles accelerated unintentionally, Wednesday’s $1.1 billion settlement announcement will remove the last big roadblock to putting the issue behind it.

Dec 19 (Reuters) – General Motors Co said it will buy
back 200 million of its shares from the U.S. Treasury and the
government plans to sell its remaining stake within 15 months,
all but assuring a multibillion dollar loss.

GM Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann said on Wednesday the
automaker will pay $5.5 billion, or $27.50 a share, for the
Treasury-held shares in a deal expected to close by year-end.
That represents a 7.9 percent premium on Tuesday’s closing
price.

By Ben Klayman

(Reuters) – General Motors Co (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday it will buy back 200 million of its shares from the U.S. Treasury, which intends to sell the rest of its GM stake over the next 15 months, bringing to an end ownership that led to the nickname “Government Motors.”

Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann said GM will pay $5.5 billion, or $27.50 a share, for the Treasury stake in a deal expected to close by year-end. That represents a 7.9 percent premium on Tuesday’s closing price.

Dec 19 (Reuters) – General Motors Co said on
Wednesday it will buy back 200 million of its shares from the
U.S. Treasury, which intends to sell the rest of its stake in
the company over the next 15 months, bringing to an end
ownership that led many to dub the automaker “Government
Motors.”

Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann said GM will pay $5.5
billion, or $27.50 a share for the Treasury stake in a deal
expected to close by year end. Treasury said it will sell its
remaining stake of about 300.1 million shares “through various
means in an orderly fashion” over the next 12 to 15 months.

PONTIAC, Mich, Dec 13 (Reuters) – General Motors Co
is counting on muscled up, more refined versions of its
lucrative Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickup
trucks to show investors and car buyers that the No. 1 U.S.
automaker is back on track.

The 2014 model-year trucks are the most critical launch for
the Detroit company since its bankruptcy and $50 billion U.S.
taxpayer-funded bailout in 2009. The trucks are also a linchpin
in GM’s ongoing battle with No. 2 U.S. carmaker Ford Motor Co
, whose F-150 truck is the industry’s top-selling vehicle.

DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Co (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is counting on muscled up, more refined versions of its lucrative Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickup trucks to show investors and car buyers the No. 1 U.S. automaker is back on the right track.

The 2014 trucks are the most critical launch for the Detroit company since its bankruptcy and $50 billion U.S. taxpayer-funded bailout in 2009. The trucks are also a linchpin in GM’s perpetual battle with No. 2 U.S. carmaker Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), whose F-150 truck is the industry’s top-selling vehicle.

DETROIT, Dec 10 (Reuters) – General Motors Co is
gearing up to show off its new full-size pickup trucks this week
just as the No. 1 U.S. automaker is boosting incentives on its
rising supply of the current models.

GM will unveil the redesigned versions of the Chevrolet
Silverado and GMC Sierra in Pontiac on Thursday, but consumers
will not be able to start buying the new 2014 models until the
second quarter next year.

By Tom Hals and Ben Klayman

(Reuters) – A123 Systems Inc, a bankrupt maker of batteries for electric cars, was expected to kick off its politically sensitive auction on Thursday pitting a U.S. bidder against at least three foreign rivals for a company that was partly funded with U.S. government money.

Johnson Controls Inc of Milwaukee and Wanxiang Group Corp of China have both said they qualified to bid for A123, which makes lithium-ion batteries.