Ford Motor Company showed the lowest positive growth of any major automaker group doing business in the US market but with an improvement of 9% over September 2010, Ford beat out American Honda and Toyota Motor Co. in September sales growth thanks mostly to the popularity of their pickup trucks and SUVs.

Even though Xbox Live Gold members like myself got our hands on the first playable demo for Forza Motorsport 4, the new commercial featuring Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson and the Aston Martin DB9 is no less interesting as it isn’t packed full of action shots from the game but rather, the piece pays homage to gearheads who are encouraged to turn to Forza 4 for their driving exhilaration rather than doing it on public roads.

Automotive consumer credit trends continue to indicate positive news for the industry in Equifax' recent monthly report. January to June 2011 new auto loan originations were up 15 percent over the same period in 2010. September sales figures from the auto manufacturers indicate that despite a slight dip in August, sales remain strong as the year progresses.

General Motors was once again the top selling automaker in the US market in September 2011, with 207,145 vehicles sold bringing the General an increase of 20% over the same month last year.

Sales numbers for September 2011 are in and once again, the Chrysler Group is the top dog among major automakers in terms of growth while their total sales volume allows them to claim the third spot on the sales chart, besting Toyota by almost 6,000 units.

Volvo will take sole ownership of the Uddevalla plant in 2013, and thanks to slow sales volume of the C70, it will end the model and shut down the plant too.

This morning, Ford Motor Company announced that they had come to a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers for a new labor contract, with the automaker committing to add 12,000 new jobs in the United States while also promising to invest $16 million dollars to protect the future of American manufacturing jobs.

The announcement from Nissan that is building a Juke-R begs the question – is this more Nissan Sentra SE-R or Nissan GT-R? Based on the performance figures released, the proposed supersport crossover Juke-R is more GT-R.

New news can have a significant effect on a stock. Such is the case with traders and investors of Ford stock as details of the tentative agreement between Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) and the UAW begin to surface. [Evening Market Update: Ford closes higher.]

Through the DOE project, Navistar was to develop and demonstrate technologies to improve Class 8 truck and trailer aerodynamics, combustion efficiency, waste heat recovery, hybridization, idle reduction, and reduced rolling resistance tires. Day 1 at the 2011 DEER Conference provided the venue for an update.