After months of fluctuating sales, the auto industry offered signs of recovery from its yearlong slump, as most automakers reported yesterday higher levels of U.S. sales in October. GM, the largest U.S. automaker, reported its first monthly sales gain in almost two years, while Hyundai and Subaru were huge winners thanks for their popular models and fuel-efficient sedans. Other top automakers—Toyota, Ford, Nissan—also posted higher sales.

GM reported its first monthly gain in U.S. sales in almost two years while Toyota and Ford also improved, a sign the auto industry it starting to crawl back from a yearlong slump.

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.

After a yearlong free fall in the American car market, the decline of sales slowed in June, offering hope to automakers that the bottom has been reached and that shoppers may slowly start returning to showrooms soon. Still, sales were down 7.1 percent from May, which generally is a stronger sales month. Overall, automakers sold 859,847 vehicles in June, a 28 percent drop from the same month last year, according to Autodata Corp.

Under withering criticism in Congress, General Motors and Chrysler executives yesterday called the closings of hundreds of dealerships painful steps needed to right-size the auto giants. Down-on-theirluck dealers said the moves would needlessly devastate their local economies and livelihoods. “Many dealers and the communities they serve frankly feel blind-sided,“ said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore.

Chrysler was reborn yesterday under a new Italian parent, but it can’t shake the shadows of its past: It’s not selling enough cars, its fleet is tilted to trucks and SUVs, and help is more than a year away. A 42-day stay in bankruptcy court cleansed the company of much of its debt and labor costs, but many analysts say Chrysler’s immediate future is bleak. It lost $8 billion in 2008, and sales are down by almost half for the first five months of this year.

The House yesterday approved a “cash for clunkers” bill that aims to boost new auto sales by allowing consumers to turn in their gas-guzzling cars and trucks for vouchers worth up to $4,500 toward more fuel-efficient vehicles. President Barack Obama has encouraged Congress to approve consumer incentives for new-car purchases as part of the government’s work to restructure General Motors and Chrysler. The House approved the bill 298-119.

After 75 years selling Chryslers, the Lawrence family woke up this morning no longer selling new cars. They are now exclusively in the used-car business. A federal bankruptcy judge ruled yesterday that Chrysler can go ahead with its plan to terminate the franchises of 789 of its dealers, including the Lawrence family’s Airport Chrysler Jeep dealership on Laburnum Avenue in eastern Henrico County.

NEW YORK—Chrysler’s five weeks of breakneck-speed bankruptcy proceedings came to a screeching—but possibly temporary—halt yesterday, when a U.S. Supreme Court justice delayed its sale of assets to Italy’s Fiat. The move could derail the government’s ambitious plan for the U.S. automaker to blaze a path to profitability without the burden of many of its debts.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has temporarily delayed Chrysler’s sale to Fiat.
Ginsburg says in an order today that the sale is “stayed pending further order.“ Thee action indicates that the delay may only be temporary. Chrysler has said a delay could scuttle the deal.

When General Motors Corp. emerges from bankruptcy protection, it will technically be a brand new, privately held company—yet it will be more publicly owned than ever, with taxpayers holding a 60 percent stake. GM executives say the company will continue to release regular financial statements after it goes private, even though technically it no longer will have an obligation to do so.

Partners no more, bankrupt automakers and small-town car dealers who are being stripped of their livelihood brought the anguish of their sinking fortunes into the halls of Congress yesterday and sparred over the companies’ plans to slash franchises nationwide. “This is our last chance to get it right,“ General Motors Corp. President Fritz Henderson warned testy lawmakers.

On Capitol Hill, Sen. Jay Rockefeller says it’s wrong for auto companies to take taxpayer funds and then leave local dealers and their customers to fend for theselves.

Americans bought more cars in May than in any other month this year, drawn by fire-sale prices that pushed General Motors and Chrysler’s sales above expectations despite their forays into bankruptcy protection. Overall sales were still 34 percent lower than a year ago. But low gas prices encouraged the sale of bigger gas guzzlers while small cars stacked up on dealer lots. That could be a problem for the Obama administration, if the demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles drops just as it is forcing the U.S. auto industry to produce more of them.

Automaker’s bankruptcy filing today is the fourth-largest in U.S. history and the largest for an industrial company. GM pledges continued warranty coverage, service and customer support.