DETROIT (Reuters) – Major automakers posted double-digit U.S. sales gains for August, a steady result for a month that began with a plunge on Wall Street and ended with a hurricane shutting down the East Coast.

General Motors Co reported a sales gain of 18 percent from year-earlier levels. Ford Motor Co sales were up 11 percent. Chrysler had its best August sales in four years with a 31 percent sales increase.

DETROIT (Reuters) – A vote by Ford Motor Co union workers to authorize a strike if negotiations between the United Auto Workers and Ford turn sour is well on its way to passage, union officials said on Wednesday.

United Auto Workers at five of Ford’s biggest plants have overwhelmingly voted this week to authorize a strike. The lowest rate of affirmative votes at the five plants was 97 percent.

NEW YORK/DETROIT (Reuters) – Hurricane Irene hit the East Coast at the most inopportune time for many businesses, keeping millions of shoppers away from stores and auto dealerships during what should have been a busy weekend.

Irene struck a wide area from North Carolina up to Vermont, inflicting damage on the August sales results that automakers and many big U.S. retailers are set to report later this week.

DETROIT (Reuters) – A Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up an airliner near Detroit with an explosive hidden in his underwear has asked to be judged by the Koran rather than U.S. law, documents filed with a federal court in Michigan show.

A handwritten request by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 24, asks U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds to free him from federal prison because he “believes that all Muslims should only be ruled by the law of the Quran.”

DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Co and LG Corp have struck a deal to develop electric cars together, a first-of-its-kind alliance between the top U.S. automaker and a leading Korean conglomerate that represents a major bet on battery technology.

LG Corp’s LG Chem Ltd currently supplies the lithium-ion batteries that power GM’s Chevrolet Volt and Opel Ampera plug-in hybrids which debuted in late 2010.

DETROIT (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Co (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) showed off its all-new Camry on Tuesday, aiming to recover lost sales momentum with price cuts and a high-powered ad campaign for its flagship sedan that remains America’s best-selling car.

Sales of the Camry are down 8 percent this year but it is still No. 1 in the United States despite market-share gains by rivals including the Nissan Motor Co (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Altima, Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Fusion, Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Sonata and the General Motors Co (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chevrolet Malibu. The Honda Motor Co (7267.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Accord is still No. 2 despite also losing share.

DETROIT (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research) will work together to develop hybrid trucks and SUVs that will be ready for market by the end of the decade, the two companies said on Monday.

Ford and Toyota plan to collaborate on product development for the future rear-wheel drive hybrid vehicles as well as for telephone, Internet and entertainment systems.

DETROIT (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp and Ford Motor Co will work together to develop hybrid trucks and SUVs that will be ready for market by the end of the decade, the two companies said on Monday.

Ford and Toyota plan to collaborate on product development for the future rear-wheel drive hybrid vehicles as well as for telephone, Internet and entertainment systems.

DETROIT (Reuters) – United Auto Workers President Bob King told union officials in a closed-door meeting he hopes to wrap up contract negotiations with Detroit automakers by mid-September, a person who attended the session said.

The comments by King on Tuesday represent the clearest signal yet the UAW is moving on a fast track in talks with the three Detroit automakers and could have a deal with each by September 14 when the current contracts expire.

DETROIT, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Honda Motor Co (7267.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said it
will build a new auto plant in Mexico to make sub-compact cars
for the North American market and that it will open in 2014.

Honda will spend about $800 million to build the plant in
the suburb of Celaya, Guanajuato, about 210 miles east of the
company’s two existing plants in Mexico that make cars and
motorcycles.