General Motors Corp

General Motors Corp. awarded Alcan Aluminium Ltd. a 10-year, multibillion-dollar supply contract for aluminum, an important ingredient in auto makers' efforts to limit pollution by making vehicles lighter. The world's largest auto maker now uses about 1.7 billion pounds of aluminum annually--an average of 210 pounds per vehicle--making it one of the metal's biggest consumers worldwide. GM expects the per-vehicle average to rise by at least 7% a year.

General Motors Corp. said Monday that it is selling five parts manufacturing plants to American Axle & Manufacturing as part of a strategy to focus on its core components business. Sale of the axle, propeller shaft and forging businesses in Michigan and New York will be effective Feb. 28. Terms of the agreement, signed Monday, were not disclosed. Some 7,300 people are employed at the five plants. "It is anticipated they (AA&M) will retain all of the employees," GM spokeswoman Mary Irby said.

Since its inception, General Motors Corp.'s Saturn division has been allowed to operate as a laboratory for new ideas and concepts, with little accountability to the rest of GM. But with competition heating up and GM's unlimited financial support no longer guaranteed, some industry experts have started to wonder if Saturn would be better off joining one of GM's seven more established divisions.

General Motors Corp., fresh from extracting a public apology from NBC over a report that attacked the safety of some of its trucks, said Wednesday that it pulled its advertising from the top three networks' news programs. GM spokesman Edward Lechtzin said the move was intended to use its advertising dollars more effectively, not to pressure NBC or any other news operations.