Further signs of a recovery in the car sales market have been recorded by Kia Motors, which registered a 166% increase in new vehicle sales for January.

The 252 new models registered during January was the highest total recorded
by Kia since it entered the market a decade and a half ago.

The sales surge outpaced the 6% growth seen by the whole car sales industry for the month and saw Kia Motors overtaking Nissan to place seventh in the passenger car market with a share of almost 5%.

An estimated 5,000 people no longer have a job in the Kiwi car industry.

That's ten percent of all people involved in the importation and retailing of cars, and all the associated activities that go with it.

Almost all the job losses have happened in the last six months.

They cover a smorgasbord of activities associated with selling cars. These include car haulage (the big trucks with 12 cars on them that blot out the sun and park imperviously in the middle of the road to unload).

(11am update) The initial failure of the $US14 billion car industry bailout plan and higher jobless claims have put a damper on Wall Street for the second time this week.

The main Dow Jones index closed 196.33 points down, or 2.3%, at 8565.09. The broader S&P500 index retreated 2.9% to 873.59, hit mainly by lower financial stocks.

Bank of America and General Electric slumped more than 3.6% while General Motors and Ford slid more than 9.6% on the Senate rejection of the auto package.