car market

Somebody forgot to tell the automakers that the economy is going downhill: Auto sales in September were up 10% over last year's numbers, with all of Detroit's Big Three posting solid gains. Imports, however, did not fare as well. Can Toyota, once unstoppable, win back its former primacy, post-tsunami and accelerator debacle?

It took a massive recession to make it happen, but China eclipsed the U.S. in auto sales last year. Buoyed by government stimulus, Chinese consumers snatched up 10.3 million cars, while total vehicle sales reached 13.6 million. By contrast, in the U.S., which was the world's largest auto market for decades, sales were just 10.4 million cars and trucks, and 2009 will go down as the slowest sales year since 1982.