Cobalt

When GM told David Derringer of Virginia that it wasn't going to reimburse him for the cost of a power steering pump, he didn't just give up. He got into his GMC pickup and took a drive -- to GM's headquarters in Detroit.

The thrifty new small car replaces the underwhelming Chevy Cobalt, a model that had a hard time competing with the likes of Toyota's Corolla and Ford's Focus, new versions of which are due in coming months. A manual transmission model will have a 40-mpg highway rating.

General Motors reported Wednesday that sales fell 25% in August, as consumers held back from buying autos amid the lackluster economy. For the month, GM said it sold 185,176 vehicles, compared to 246,479 a year ago, a decline of 24.9%. Among its four core brands -- Chevrolet, GMC, Buick and...

AstraZeneca shares surged by almost 9% Tuesday after the company scored a win in court regarding the patent for its cholesterol treatment, Crestor. The ruling means that AstraZeneca won't have to worry about generic competition for its multibillion-dollar statin until 2016.