Automobile Sales

The Ford and Honda hybrids due out this month are among dozens planned for the coming years as automakers try to meet new fuel-efficiency standards and please politicians overseeing the industry's multibillion-dollar bailout. Unfortunately for the automakers, hybrids are a tough sell these days. Americans have cut back on buying vehicles of all types as the economy continues its slide. But the slowdown has been particularly brutal for hybrids, which use electricity and gasoline as power sources.

Gloom permeates the U.S. auto industry, but happier days are here again for workers at the Skoda factory in the western Czech Republic. Orders are up, their assembly lines are humming once more, and they owe it all to the government. Just not their own. Their gratitude goes instead to their next-door neighbor.

Honda's Prius-killer is looking a lot like road kill. When it debuted in March, Honda Motor Corp.'s retooled Insight hybrid looked to be the first serious challenger to the Prius, Toyota Motor Corp.'s ecological wunder-car. Graced with a low price, 40-mpg-plus fuel economy and the Japanese automaker's reputation for quality, the Insight even looked like the Prius.

California's auto dealers are worried that the state's new budget will put an even bigger dent in already miserable sales. Increases in the sales tax and vehicle license fees were key components of the measure signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday. Both raise the cost of buying a car.

In the brave new world of online auto sales, there are no smiling, smooth-talking sales people to help seal a deal. So how can General Motors Co. sell more cars on EBay? It may be as simple as running a lot of photos, having short spiffy descriptions and responding to e-mails quickly, according to EBay "power sellers" who earned their title by regularly selling at least $1,000 worth of merchandise each month. "The most successful sellers create great listings, with clear concise titles and lots of quality pictures," said Brad Schepp, coauthor of several books about selling on EBay, including "EBay PowerSeller Secrets."

In the shadow of a big blue inflated gorilla perched on the roof, bright yellow signs shouted "Ultimate Liquidation Event." Deep price cuts, painted in bold neon letters, adorned the windshield of nearly every car on the Garden Grove dealership lot. Janice and Yao Huang arrived on a hot afternoon looking for a bargain. "We're here for the sale," Yao told Danny Covin as he approached, squinting in the sun. "We heard you are closing down. Do you have things on sale?"

Like everybody else in his farming village, Zhan Changchun used to get around on a bicycle. This month, the 29-year-old walked into a local dealership, pulled out $7,300 in cash from his leather satchel and drove away with the family's first car: a seven-seat micro-minivan that's jointly produced by China's Wuling and General Motors. The Zhans drained their life savings and borrowed from relatives, bold moves in a slowing economy.

A day after the president threw down the gauntlet for the American auto industry, General Motors Corp. began the work of selling cars anew. On Tuesday, even as its new chief executive acknowledged the growing possibility of bankruptcy, the ailing carmaker announced an aggressive new incentive plan that, in part, will cover car payments for customers who lose their jobs.

The road to recovery for U.S. automakers could be jammed with hundreds of thousands of gas-guzzling used cars, which President Obama hopes will be traded in for more fuel-efficient vehicles -- with the lure of government money. So-called cash-for-clunkers programs in Germany and France have worked well this year to spur new car sales. But similar initiatives aimed at reducing smog in Southern California have not fared so well in recent years.

The decision by General Motors Corp. to eliminate the Pontiac brand disappointed many people, but it didn't surprise anyone. For fans, dealers and experts, the division has been fading for decades. "It's been a long time coming. For the last 20 years, Pontiac has just had the same car with lots of different badges on it," said Karl Brauer, editor-in-chief of car buying guide Edmunds.com in Santa Monica.