Big Three, Automaker | featured news

Chrysler Group LLC is expected to announce today that it will repay about $7.5 billion in U.S. and Canadian government loans on May 24 -- about a month earlier than it recently said, and years ahead of the original schedule.

General Motors' U.S. sales of cars and truck jumped 27 percent in April as the economy continued to improve and $4 a gallon gasoline pushed buyers into more efficient vehicles.

General Motors said the payments, worth “upwards of $4,000” for hourly workers, were the largest profit-sharing checks in the automaker’s history.

Sunday’s Super Bowl game saw a powerful ad air for U.S. automaker Chrysler — a company desperately in need of some serious buzz.

Investor demand for General Motors stock has been so strong that the company will expand its initial public offering by 31 percent, to 478 million common shares, a person briefed on the sale said Tuesday.

General Motors and Chrysler are beginning to make some headway after getting a financial and operational overhaul compliments of the U.S. bankruptcy court.

The annual package includes $1.7 million in salary and a mix of stock, some part of a long-term incentive plan.

The U.S. government is likely to take a loss on General Motors Co in the first offering of the automaker's stock, six people familiar with preparations for the landmark IPO said.

But Chrysler Group said its August sales rose 7 percent thanks to the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

General Motors filed to become a public company again and let the federal government begin selling down its share.