Ford, the only Detroit automaker to dodge direct government aid and bankruptcy court, surprised investors with net income of nearly $1 billion in the third quarter and forecast a “solidly profitable” 2011.

With sales down sharply and pressure to generate cash before government loans run out, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne shook up his executive team yesterday, replacing two of his brand managers after just four months and splitting Dodge into car and truck units. The changes show Marchionne’s penchant for moving quickly and demanding performance, industry analysts say. But it’s also a sign that all is not well inside the company’s sprawling headquarters complex in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills.

Hyundai Motor Co.—not the up-and-coming Chinese, nor the leaner meaner Americans—is the automaker that has the Japanese seriously worried. Talk to any Japanese auto executive, and the official is likely to say the South Korean automaker is rapidly emerging as the most feared competitor to Japan’s world-leading car companies. “Hyundai is awesome,“ said Honda Motor Co. Chief Executive Takanobu Ito in an interview with The Associated Press this week. “They are undoubtedly a threat because their products are cheap, and the quality is improving.“

NEW YORK When you think about car safety, you think brakes, air bags and seat belts. Now, you should check floor mats, too. The carpet in your driver’s footwell is at the center of what will be Toyota’s largest-ever U.S. vehicle recall, prompted by a fatal crash. The problem: Gas pedals in some Toyotas could become caught under the edge of floor mats. That may have led to a car cash that killed four people in August outside San Diego.

General Motors Co. said yesterday that it would shut down its Saturn division after an agreement to sell it to Penske Automotive Group Inc. fell apart. “This is a major disappointment. It’s discouraging,“ said Haywood “Huddy” Hyman Jr., owner of Saturn of Richmond on Midlothian Turnpike in Chesterfield County. Hyman was one of about 400 Saturn dealers notified yesterday afternoon that his dealership would close after the Bloomfield, Mich., dealership group headed by auto-racing magnate Roger Penske was unable to find a manufacturer to supply vehicles to it after a contract with GM runs out in 2011.

NHTSA: (888) 327-4236
  Toyota: (800) 331-4331
  Lexus: (800) 255-3987

Owners of Airport Motor Co. have closed its used-car sales operation and put the property on South Laburnum Avenue up for sale for $5 million. The 4.9-acre site in eastern Henrico County once housed Airport Chrysler Jeep. The Lawrence family, which owns the property, had been Chrysler dealers in the Richmond area for about 75 years. In May, the family was notified that it was among the 789 Chrysler dealers losing their franchises after the manufacturer entered bankruptcy.

Pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles were big sellers under the Cash for Clunkers program, despite the federal government’s focus on replacing gas guzzlers with more fuel-efficient cars. Data released late last week by the Department of Transportation shows that tens of thousands of trucks, minivans and SUVs with relatively low gas mileage were among the nearly 700,000 vehicles sold under the program in July and August.

WASHINGTON—The government has compensated dealers for 70 percent of the cars sold under the popular Cash for Clunkers program and they should be fully paid by the end of September, the transportation secretary said yesterday. Secretary Ray LaHood told the National Automobile Dealers Association that 478,000 of the nearly 700,000 car vouchers have been paid, or about $2.4 billion.

Looking to regain consumers’ trust, General Motors Co. said yesterday that new-car buyers will be able to return their vehicles within two months of purchase for a full refund, part of a long-awaited new marketing campaign for the biggest American automaker. The effort is part of a campaign that will start next week seeking to make connections again with American consumers who may be leery of the company since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this year.

The Cash for Clunkers program gave a much-needed shot in the arm to Virginia automobile dealers who have watched their sales slip for nearly two years. Sales of cars and trucks at Virginia car dealers jumped 16 percent last month compared with the same month a year ago, according to data from the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association.

The Cash for Clunkers program has decreased the supply of used cars and raised their prices, Virginia dealers and buyers said. “It’s taken the threeand fourand five-thousand-dollar cars off the market,“ said Tim Higginbotham, president and owner of New Millennium Auto Sales in Hanover County. “The people that can’t afford a car payment, that’s the car that they buy.“

Virginia car dealers, sweating to enter last-minute deals into the crash-prone, cash-for-clunker computer system by yesterday at 8 p.m., got a break from the federal government. The U.S. Department of Transportation extended the deadline for filing the 13-page rebate applications until today at noon.

Virginia auto recyclers are gearing up for the influx of old cars as the popular “cash for clunkers” program ends Monday night. Car shoppers have until Monday at 8 p.m. to take advantage of government rebates.

Virginia auto recyclers are gearing up for the influx of old cars as the popular Cash for Clunkers program ends Monday night. Car shoppers have until Monday at 8 p.m. to take advantage of government rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 for trading in older vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient models. President Barack Obama said the $3 billion program has been “successful beyond anybody’s imagination.“