Hurricanes Harvey and Irma may have left southeast Texas in shambles but they helped car manufacturers. Reuters reports that major automakers posted higher U.S. new vehicle sales in September. General Motors Co stock rose as much as br 3.7 percent Tuesday while Ford Motor Co was up more than br 2 percent. Up to 500,000 cars were damaged or destroyed during Harvey and another 200,000 cars during Irma, according to industry estimates.