Toyota Motor Corp., which said last week it would recall 2.3 million vehicles because of sticking accelerator pedals, has told U.S. dealers to stop selling the eight models involved in the recall until it finds a remedy for the problem.

The affected models accounted for two-thirds of Toyota brand vehicle sales in the U.S. last year.

The company says it also will halt production of those vehicles for the week of Feb. 1 at plants in Canada, Indiana, Kentucky and Texas. Toyota says it is taking the drastic actions to ensure customer safety and restore confidence in the company.

Toyota said last week it that in “rare” cases, a worn throttle pedal in the recalled vehicles may mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or be slow to return to idle. The affected vehicles are the 2005-2010 Avalon large sedan, 2007-2010 Tundra fullsize pickup and certain Camry midsize sedans, 2008-2010 Sequoia SUV, 2009-2010 Corolla compact car and RAV4 and Matrix crossover vehicles, and the 2010 Highlander SUV. Toyota says the recall does not involve Lexus or Scion models, which use different brake pedal components.

Last week’s recall was Toyota’s second involving complaints of sticking accelerators. The company recalled 4.3 million vehicles in November to fix a design flaw that could allow the driver’s floor mat to jam the accelerator pedal. Toyota dealers are shortening the pedal, removing some floor padding and in some cases installing a brake override system. As an interim measure, the company told owners to remove the floor mats.

The second recall came after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began receiving reports of similar accidents in vehicles from which the floor mats had been removed. The second recall included 1.7 million vehicles also covered by the first action, meaning that nearly 4.9 million vehicles are involved in one or both U.S. recalls. Toyota said yesterday it might extend the recall to Europe, where it uses similar pedal components. News reports estimate that such a recall would involve 2 million vehicles.

Analysts say the company’s decision suggests it believes the safety risk is serious and perhaps not as rare as it has indicated. They also say the sales freeze is an effort to limit the damage to Toyota’s image by showing customers it puts their safety first. The company’s once pristine quality reputation has been tarnished by a series of recalls. Analysts blame explosive global growth that outpaced the company’s ability to control quality.

Americans are more optimistic about the economy than they have been since September 2008, just before the financial market meltdown, according to the New York City-based Conference Board.

The board’s index of consumer confidence increased to 55.9 this month from a revised 53.6 in December, marking its third consecutive month-over-month increase. The research group says consumers became slightly more upbeat about the job market.

The gauge of current conditions advanced almost five points to 25.0. The measure of expectations for the next six months increased 0.6 points to 76.5, its highest level since October 2007. Economists say the Conference Board’s indices point to moderate gains in consumer spending and economic growth.

General Motors Co. has reached a binding agreement to sell its Saab Automobile unit to Dutch sports car maker Spyker Cars NV, thus avoiding a liquidation of the Swedish carmaker and the loss of 3,400 jobs. The companies hope to close the deal by Feb. 15, pending government, court and regulatory approvals.

GM will receive $74 million in cash, $326 million in preferred shares of the new company, to be called Saab Spyker Automobiles, and an unspecified “additional consideration.” That could be the $100 million of Saab’s liquidity that Bloomberg News, citing an anonymous source, says GM will keep. Analysts say the greatest benefit to GM from the sale could be avoiding the expense and public backlash from winding down the Swedish unit.

Spyker, which plans to continue selling vehicles under the Saab name, would acquire all of Saab’s facilities, intellectual property rights and trademarks. GM will continue to supply Saab with the upcoming 9-4X crossover vehicle, powertrain components and some transitional engineering services.

Spyker CEO Vincent Muller says his company will return Saab to profitability by boosting volume to more than 100,000 units per year from 94,000 in 2008. Skeptics have questioned the ability of money-losing Spyker, which made 33 cars in the first nine months of 2009, to end Saab’s 20-year flow of red ink. But Muller says Spyker brings “entrepreneurship and tenacity.” Spyker hopes to benefit from Saab’s all-wheel-drive expertise, purchasing clout and global dealer network.

Selling Saab also allows GM to chalk up one victory in its efforts to sell its unwanted brands. A deal to sell Saab to Sweden’s Koenigsegg Group AB collapsed in November, and the previous deal with Spyker fell apart last month. GM’s agreement to sell the Saturn brand to Penske Automotive Corp. disintegrated in September. A pending sale of the Hummer SUV brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. has been awaiting the approval of the Chinese government since a tentative agreement was reached in June.

General Motors Co. has said the biggest obstacle to selling its Saab Automobile unit was finding a buyer with solid financing. Dutch sports car maker Spyker Cars NV has lined up several sources for the $74 million of cash it has promised GM and additional working capital to run Saab.

Tenaci Capital B.V., which is owned by Spyker CEO Vincent Muller, will loan the company $50 million. Vladimir Antonov, Spyker’s chairman and largest shareholder, has agreed to sell his 30% stake to Tenaci. Spyker says Antonov and two other members of its supervisory board, Martins Bondars and Naglis Stancikas, will resign. Bloomberg News has reported that GM insisted that Antonov sever his ties with Spyker as a condition of the sale. Antonov’s Russian bank, Convers Group, was a financial backer of an earlier bid by Spyker.

Spyker also obtained a €150 million ($211 million) back-up credit facility from London-based investment firm GEM Global Yield Fund Ltd., which can be repaid in Spyker shares.

The deal is still contingent on receiving regulatory approvals and arranging a €400 million ($564 million) loan from the European Investment Bank. The Swedish government, which lobbied hard for the Spyker deal, is expected to guarantee those loans.

The International Monetary Fund has raised its forecast for worldwide economic growth this year to 3.9% from its prediction of 3.1% in October. The global economy contracted 0.8% last year.

The Washington, D.C.-based group hiked its forecast for emerging countries by almost a full point to 6%, including growth of 10% in China and 7.7% in India. The IMF now expects the U.S. economy to expand 2.7%, up from its previous forecast of 1.5%. It projects eurozone growth of 1% vs. its previous 0.3% estimate and maintained its prediction of 1.7% growth in Japan.

The IMF expects the global economy to expand 4.3% in 2011, but it predicts the pace of growth in the U.S. will slow to 2.4% as economic stimulus measures phase out.

General Motors Co. says it will invest $246 million to begin production of electric motors for hybrid and electric vehicles in 2012 at a transmission plant near Baltimore, Md.

Some $105 million of the investment will come from a grant awarded by the U.S. Dept. of Energy in August. The motors will first be used in fullsize hybrid pickup trucks due in 2013.

The company, which began work on the motor in 2003, says it is the first domestic automaker to design, develop and build its own such component. The new motor is about 25% smaller, and its output about 20% higher than the supplier-built electric motors GM currently uses.

GM says bringing electric motor production in-house will allow it to control design and manufacturing, as well as cost, performance, quality and manufacturability. The company still plans to buy some electric motors from suppliers.

Ford Motor Co. has confirmed it will spend $400 million at its Chicago assembly plant to begin building the next-generation Ford Explorer midsize SUV late this year. The investment will include plant equipment, engineering and launch costs.

As expected, Ford will add a second shift at the factory and employ 1,000 additional hourly workers to staff it, plus another 200 at an adjacent stamping plant. Some will be new employees paid $14 per hour, a rate about half that paid existing U.S. workers. The lower wage is permitted by the company’s 2007 labor contract.

Toyota Motor Co. predicts it will sell 8.27 million vehicles worldwide in 2010, including its Daihatsu and Hino subsidiaries, up from 7.81 million last year.

That would still be well short of the 8.97 million vehicles the company sold in 2008. Excluding Daihatsu and Hino, Toyota expects to sell 7.4 million vehicles in 2010, up 6% year over year.

The company’s 2010 forecast includes a 7% increase in sales in Japan to 2.13 million units and an 11% jump in North America to 2.19 million units. The company expects to sell more than 800,000 vehicles in China, up 13%, and 62,000 in India, up 12%.

Nissan Motor Co. sold 156,200 light vehicles in Mexico last year, down 26% from 2008, but still passed General Motors Co. to become the country’s top auto seller, according to AMIA, Mexico’s auto trade group.

GM’s sales in Mexico dropped 35% to 138,500 units. The company had led Nissan in sales since 1995.

Sales of light vehicles in Mexico tumbled to 754,900 units from 1.03 million in 2008. Volkswagen AG’s sales slid 14% to 118,000 vehicles, and Ford Motor Co.’s volume fell 29% to 92,000 units. Chrysler sold 82,300 vehicles, down 29%.

Automakers produced 1.51 million light vehicles in Mexico last year, compared with 2.1 million in 2008, AMIA says. Just over 81% of last year’s output was for export.

Fiat SpA says it will halt production for two weeks in late February and early March at its five domestic car assembly plants, idling about 30,000 workers, because of slowing European demand.

The company has said domestic sales are sinking this month after an Italian government scrappage program ended in December. Fiat predicted earlier this week that it may post net income of as much as $422 million this year, but only if European government incentives are extended. It says a lack of incentives would wipe out those earnings.

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne also says the company might delay introduction of unspecified models this year because of the sluggish market. Analysts say Fiat’s announcements are intended to pressure the Italian government to reinstate incentives. The government will consider that option on Friday.

A group of U.S. hedge funds has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan against Porsche SE, charging the company misled investors about its intentions toward Volkswagen AG. The group seeks to recover more than $1 billion in losses.

The plaintiffs include Elliott Associates, Glenhill Capital LP, Glenview Capital Partners LP and Perry Partners LP. The investors say Porsche denied for much of 2008 that it planned to take over VW, even as it was quietly amassing a 75% VW stake. Porsche used cash-settled options, which did not require the company to disclose its position.

The short-sellers had borrowed VW stock and sold it, hoping to buy it back later at a profit. They say they were unaware that Porsche had cornered the market on VW shares and that they were borrowing the stock from Porsche. When Porsche reported its VW stake in October 2008, VW’s stock price soared. Short-sellers were forced to cover their positions by buying back VW stock from Porsche.

In the ensuing short squeeze, VW’s stock price surged nearly fivefold to more than $1,400, allowing Porsche to reap windfall profits. Porsche says it has obeyed market rules.

Ultimately, Porsche’s takeover plan backfired when credit markets soured, and the company was unable to service the debt it took on to buy VW shares. Last year Porsche SE agreed to sell its sports car business to VW.

Germany’s securities watchdog Bafin began investigating the stock movements last year. German prosecutors also are probing allegations of stock manipulation.