BRIEFING: Auto headlines

Potential buyers of the Chrysler Group want to set up a special $10-billion health care fund run by the UAW as a way to mitigate financial risks, according to a report Monday by Automotive News.

DaimlerChrysler AG has been mulling options, including a sale, of the Chrysler Group since February. Analysts have cited pension and health care liabilities as a major obstacle for any deal.

A special fund administered by the UAW could reduce the risks by shifting the obligation of paying for retiree health care costs to the union. The idea is modeled after a program used by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. The UAW has declined to talk about specific bidders or whether it would agree to certain proposals by those bidders.

GM Russian sales up

General Motors Corp.'s joint venture with Volga in Russia reported Monday that it sold 28% more vehicles in the first three months of the year compared with the same period last year.

The five-year-old GM-Avtovaz sold 12,400 vehicles in the first quarter of the year, it reported Monday.

GM announced last month that it would double to 70,000 the originally planned production capacity of a new assembly plant it is building near St. Petersburg.

Drive shafts investigated

Ford Motor Co.'s Land Rover SUVs are under investigation by U.S. safety regulators because the drive shaft or a front axle part may fail while the SUVs are being driven.

The inquiry covers 2002 through 2004 Range Rover and New Range Rover models, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on its Web site. As many as 33,000 vehicles may be affected, the Washington-based agency said.

Of 38 complaints received, 17 involved failure of the drive shaft or front-axle differential while the vehicles were traveling faster than 40 miles per hour, the agency said. No accidents or injuries were reported, NHTSA said. The problem may cause the vehicle to come to a halt, the agency said.

DCX Truck sets regions

DaimlerChrysler AG, the world's largest truckmaker, said its U.S. truck-financing operations are being split into four regions to improve service to Freightliner, Sterling and Western Star dealers.

DaimlerChrysler Truck Financial disclosed the plan in a statement Monday. The Lisle, Ill.-based financing unit will have Eastern, Central, Southern and Western regions.

CarMax chairman retires

CarMax Inc., the largest U.S. used car dealer, said board Chairman Richard Sharp is retiring and will be succeeded by board member William Tiefel.

Sharp, 60, will step down effective June 26, when CarMax will hold its annual shareholder meeting, the company said in a statement Monday. Sharp has been chairman since 2002, when CarMax was spun off from Circuit City Stores Inc., where he was chief executive officer from 1986 to 2000.