Better economy, storm delays lift US auto sales

In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012, photo, a Toyota dealership signs glows over a car lot in Tustin Calif. A better economy and extra demand after Superstorm Sandy lifted U.S. auto sales in November. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012, photo, a Toyota dealership signs glows over a car lot in Tustin Calif. A better economy and extra demand after Superstorm Sandy lifted U.S. auto sales in November. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012, photo, a Toyota dealership signs glows over a car lot in Tustin Calif., Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012. A better economy and extra demand after Superstorm Sandy lifted U.S. auto sales in November. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012, photo, a Toyota dealership signs glows over a car lot in Tustin Calif. A better economy and extra demand after Superstorm Sandy lifted U.S. auto sales in November. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

DETROIT (AP) ? A better economy and extra demand after Superstorm Sandy lifted U.S. auto sales last month.

Carmakers from Chrysler to Volkswagen reported brisk demand in November, and said sales rose on everything from small SUVs to sedans.

Americans are willing to buy a new car or truck because they are more confident in the economy than they've been in a while: Home values are rising, hiring is up and auto financing is readily available.

And Sandy, which hit at the end of October, forced buyers in the Northeast to postpone purchases until November. Also, people whose cars were damaged by the storm are starting to buy new ones. And because the average age of a vehicle on U.S. roads is approaching 11 years, people are being forced to make costly repairs or buy a new car or truck.

"Everything is kind of moving along almost in concert now," says Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting for LMC Automotive, a Detroit-area industry consulting firm.

November sales, when calculated on an annual basis, are likely to be 15 million or more, the highest rate since March of 2008, according to LMC. That's higher than the 14.3 million annual rate so far this year, even though November is normally a lackluster month due to cold weather and holiday anticipation. Both GM and Chrysler predicted November sales would run at an annual rate of 15.3 million.

If sales end up at 15 million for the year, it would be a vast improvement over the 10.4 million during the recession in 2009. Sales would still fall short of the recent peak of around 17 million in 2005.

Foreign-based brands saw the biggest sales increases due to big discounts, says Jesse Toprak, senior analyst for automotive pricing site TrueCar.com.

TrueCar estimates that Hyundai and Kia, which were admonished by the U.S. government in late October for overstating gas mileage, increased incentive spending by nearly 30 percent. Nissan spending was up 45 percent, while Toyota spending rose 9 percent from a year earlier.

Overall, Truecar says discounts were up nearly 20 percent from last month. Sales prices also were the highest in nearly a year as people bought cars with more options.

Toyota and Volkswagen had the biggest sales bumps. Toyota said Monday its November sales rose 17 percent from a year earlier, while Volkswagen sales leaped 35 percent. Nissan sales climbed 13 percent. Hyundai, meanwhile, saw sales increase 8 percent, led by the Sonata midsize car and the Elantra compact.

Among Detroit's automakers, Chrysler saw the highest percentage increase in sales ? up 14 percent from November 2011. Ford's sales increased 6.5 percent. GM , however, reported just a 3 percent rise, and its top-selling brand, Chevrolet reported flat sales. The Cadillac and Buick brands helped GM with double-digit increases.

Kurt McNeil, GM's head of U.S. sales, said delayed purchases because of Sandy clearly boosted November sales. But competitors were helped more than GM because they have a stronger presence in states hit by the storm.

Chrysler results were led by the Dodge brand, which saw sales rise 32 percent. Dodge Journey crossover SUV sales rose 77 percent. Small-car sales were strong at Ford, led by the Focus, with 56 percent increase. F-Series pickup sales rose 18 percent.

Most analysts say they are seeing little sales impact from the "fiscal cliff" negotiations between Congress and the White House. The term refers to sharp government spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to start Jan. 1 unless an agreement is reached to cut the budget deficit. Economists say that those measures, if implemented, could push the U.S. economy back into a recession.

Schuster says the fiscal cliff and a possible recession are among the risks that could derail the auto sales recovery next year.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-03-Auto%20Sales/id-86ef99d2596449c384eeb43e772bd2bf

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Pope greets clowns, acrobats as circus comes to town

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI has greeted clowns, acrobats, street performers and a lion cub as the circus came to town.

Benedict clapped and watched amused Saturday as circus performers flipped, flopped, juggled and twisted in front of him in what the Vatican has called a historic audience to make street performers and other itinerant entertainers feel like they belong to the church.

A big top tent and carousel were mounted in St. Peter's Square to make the scene complete Saturday, and thousands of entertainers from a dozen countries filled a Vatican audience hall for the papal performance.

Vatican officials have said the audience was designed to draw attention to the problems itinerant entertainers face, living in the margins of society and constantly travelling, unable to belong to parish churches.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-greets-clowns-acrobats-circus-comes-town-122019078.html

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NTSB: Conrail studied problems day before NJ crash

PAULSBORO, N.J. (AP) ? More than 100 southern New Jersey residents will be kept out of their homes for several more days as crews work to clear a hazardous gas that spewed from a ruptured freight train car.

Noting that the hazardous material is still in the area, officials said Sunday that the Paulsboro, N.J. residents won't be able to return to their homes in the 12-block evacuation zone until at least Saturday.

Officials hoped to start removing the hazardous material, vinyl chloride, from the ruptured tanker sometime Sunday. It was not clear how long that would take to complete.

Public schools in the southern Jersey town will be open on Monday, and officials said air testing quality will be conducted to ensure students' safety. However, a day care center and the municipal courts will be closed.

The derailment Friday sent dozens of people to a hospital, but no serious injuries have been reported.

Federal investigators said Sunday that Conrail crews had studied reported signal problems at the railroad bridge where the derailment occurred.

The National Transportation Safety Board cannot examine the scene until the chemicals are removed. But the agency has begun reviewing records with a focus on both the signal problems reported recently and a 2009 train derailment on the same bridge.

Conrail regularly moves tons of hazardous material over the low bridge, which was originally built in 1873. The bridge straddles Mantua Creek, a tributary near the Delaware River in the industrial town of Paulsboro. The bridge operates like a garden fence, with a section that swings sideways to open for boat traffic, then closes and locks into place for freight trains.

The NTSB expects to focus its probe on that locking mechanism along with the signal devices, which are triggered by sensors on the bridge, not by dispatchers.

"This is a very complex (bridge) operation," Hersman said at a news conference Sunday. "There is a lot of tonnage that goes over this bridge and a lot of hazardous materials."

Conrail crews in recent days and weeks had been reporting problems with the signal, and the rail company had been looking into the problem only the day before, she said.

The veteran two-person crew was familiar with the route and had run it on the three previous nights. They had started their shift at 3 a.m. Friday and were surprised to get a yellow signal when they approached the bridge at about 7 a.m. They used a keypad device, similar to a garage door opener, to try to get a green light, but were unsuccessful. The pair stopped the train for several minutes, examined the tracks, and then got permission from a dispatcher to proceed, Hersman said.

The two locomotives and five cars made it across before the crew looked back to see the bridge "collapse" and a pileup of cars in the creek. The one that ruptured had been damaged by another tanker, Hersman said.

Recordings of various data so far support the crew's account, investigators said. However, authorities are not yet sure whether the bridge deck actually collapsed or shifted.

A team of NTSB investigators arrived in the region Saturday with scanners and other equipment to study the wreckage site, but they cannot get to the scene until the vinyl chloride is removed. The Coast Guard and other authorities were coordinating the cleanup.

The NTSB also plans to review how the bridge was rebuilt after the coal train derailed there in 2009.

Investigators also want to learn if the tidal surge or debris from Superstorm Sandy may have caused problems at the bridge, although the area was not among those hardest hit by the storm.

About 100 people are staying in motels due to the 12-block evacuation, while an unknown number are with friends and family, said state Assemblyman John Burzichelli, a former mayor of Paulsboro.

The bridge usually supports at least three major trains each day serving refineries and other customers in the area. The August 2009 derailment was believed to have been caused by a bridge misalignment.

The tanker that ruptured Friday contained 25,000 gallons of vinyl chloride, some of which spewed into the air, sickening dozens of people. About 70 people went to a nearby hospital complaining of respiratory problems and eye irritation. None of the injuries was believed to be serious.

The remaining gas in the tanker had turned into a solid and settled at the bottom of the tanker.

The removal of the vinyl chloride and the seven wrecked rail cars is expected to be a delicate operation. A huge crane was brought in from New York Harbor to pick up the tanker cars.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ntsb-conrail-studied-problems-day-nj-crash-183825463.html

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Galapagos Tortoise 'Lonesome George' may have had relatives after all

Genetic samples showed that some tortoises recently DNA tested were hybrids that had a parent like Lonesome George from the subspecies Chelonoidis abingdoni.

By Megan Gannon,?LiveScience News Editor / November 26, 2012

A giant tortoise named 'Lonesome George' is seen in the Galapagos islands, an archipelago off Ecuador's Pacific coast in 2008. Lonesome George, the late reptile prince of the Galapagos Islands, may be dead, but scientists now say he may not be the last giant tortoise of his species after all.

Galapagos National Park/AP

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The death of Gal?pagos tortoise Lonesome George this summer was thought to mark the extinction of a subspecies, but a new study hints that the reptile may not have been the last of his kind after all.

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Researchers from Yale University recently trekked to the northern tip of Isabella Island, the largest of the Gal?pagos, and collected DNA from more than 1,600?giant tortoises. The genetic samples showed that 17 of these tortoises were hybrids that had a parent like?Lonesome George?from the subspecies?Chelonoidis abingdoni.

What's more, five of those hybrids were juveniles, suggesting purebred?C. abingdoni?tortoises may still be roaming a remote part of the island.

"Our goal is to go back this spring to look for surviving individuals of this species and to collect hybrids," Yale ecology researcher Gisella Caccone said in a statement. "We hope that with a selective breeding program, we can reintroduce this tortoise species to its native home."

But even if examples of?C. abingdoni?are found on Isabella Island, how did they get there? Lonesome George's species is native to?Pinta Island, 37 miles (60 kilometers) across the seas from the Volcano Wolf area on Isabella Island where the hybrid samples were collected.

These tortoises are massive, reaching nearly 900 pounds (408 kilograms) and almost 6 feet (1.8 meters) in length, and the researchers don't think ocean currents carried them between the islands. The team does suspect, however, that 19th-century sailors did.

Volcano Wolf is nearby Banks Bay, where naval officers and whalers marooned giant tortoises picked up from other islands after they were no longer needed for food. Researchers have previously found other hybrid turtles in the region with genetic ancestry of another tortoise,?C. elephantopus, which was thought to be lost. This species was native to Floreana Island, where it was hunted to extinction some 150 years ago. But the new evidence suggests several members must have been brought to Isabella Island, where they mated with?C. becki?tortoises.

The new findings are detailed in the journal Biological Conservation.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter?@livescience. We're also on?Facebook?&?Google+.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/loHlWzNT1g0/Galapagos-Tortoise-Lonesome-George-may-have-had-relatives-after-all

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MINI, Lexus get top marks in sales satisfaction

The results are in, and once again, Lexus and MINI have proven masters of the sales process and making customers happy, according to J.D. Power and Associates. Why are Lexus and MINI so successful on this front?

By Richard Read,?Guest blogger / December 1, 2012

This commercial file photo courtesy of BMW Group shows the 2012 MINI Cooper SD Coupe. MINI gets high marks in customer sales satisfaction, getting the top spot in J.D. Power and Associates' rankings for the third year in a row.

BMW Group/AP/File

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Earlier,?we discussed?how a range of factors affect customer satisfaction with new automobiles. Included in that mix is the sales process, which begins with shoppers researching possible purchases, and ends with buyers driving their new?cars?home.

Skip to next paragraph The Car Connection

High Gear Media?s flagship website offers news, reviews, and the latest shopping tools for the cars that matter to US consumers. For more expert insights from Car Connection editors and opinions from around the Web,?click here.

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J.D. Power's?2012 U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index Study reveals that,?once again, Lexus and MINI are masters of the sales process and of making customers happy.

Methodology

To rank automakers for its latest Sales Satisfaction Index, J.D. Power surveyed 31,386 consumers who bought or leased a new vehicle in May 2012. Power polled those consumers between August and October.

As in previous years, Power divided dealerships into two groups: those where customers shopped but didn't buy, and those where customers ultimately bought or leased their new vehicles.

The former were evaluated on five criteria, each of which carried a slightly different weight in Power's final score: "salesperson (20%); fairness of price (12%); facility (6%); inventory (6%); and experience negotiating (5%)". The latter were evaluated on four criteria: "working out the deal (17%); salesperson (13%); delivery process (11%); and facility (10%)".

On each criteria, dealers were assigned scores ranging from 0 to 1,000.?

Luxury rankings

For the second year in a row, Lexus landed at the top of J.D. Power's Sales Satisfaction Index for?luxury?brands. The automaker received an average score of 737 -- up from 715 last year.?

Lexus was followed by Infiniti, Cadillac, Lincoln, Porsche, and Mercedes-Benz, all of which scored above the luxury average of 716. For reference, Infiniti and Lincoln landed?below?that line in 2011, which implies that both have invested time and energy in improving the sales process.

Faring not so well: BMW, Land Rover, Acura, and Audi. Like last year,?Volvo?finished at the back of the pack, with a score of 678. Still, that's an improvement over 2011, when Volvo received an average score of 666.

(Note:?Jaguar?wasn't included in J.D. Power's rankings because its sample size was too small.)

Mass-market rankings

In the mass-market segment, MINI maintained its spot at the top of the Sales Satisfaction Index for the third year running. The brand known for pint-sized rides earned a not-so-pint-sized score of 712. That is, however, down from 723,?MINI's?score last year.

Buick held onto the #2 rung with a score of 706 -- far better than last year's 682. Also faring well were GMC, Fiat, Chevrolet, Subaru, Ford, Honda, and Volkswagen, all of which scored higher than the industry average of 657.

In the below-average group, we find Toyota, Hyundai, Scion,?Mazda, Nissan,?Chrysler, Kia, Ram, Mitsubishi, and Dodge. For the second year in a row, Jeep had the dubious distinction of coming in at the bottom of Power's list -- though the brand's score of 618 was an improvement over last year's 606.

Other key findings

During the course of its survey, J.D. Power uncovered quite a few trends. Among the most interesting:

• In choosing a dealer, more shoppers use third-party ratings sites than social networks like Facebook. Men are especially prone to rely on third-party sites, while women marginally prefer social networks.
• That said, those who?do?select a dealer using social sites are significantly more satisfied with their purchasing experience than those who rely solely on third-party sites.?
• Among dealerships where customers actually purchased or leased their vehicles, satisfaction has improved from 771 in 2011 to 776 this year.
• Among dealerships that customers?visited but from which they didn't buy or lease, satisfaction is up even more significantly:?from 525 in 2011 to 553 in 2012.
• On the whole, satisfaction with all dealers improved four points, from an average of 648 in 2011 to 664 this year.

Our take

Today's?auto?market is a crowded one, with many vehicles and brands clamoring for attention. Customer loyalty has fallen largely by the wayside, and Americans' predisposition toward U.S. brands has dissipated. Competing models are so similar that often the only thing separating them is the dealership experience. Making customers feel happy and welcome can make or break a sale.

For us, the biggest takeaway of J.D. Power's 2012 Sales Satisfaction Index is that dealers are increasingly aware of these facts, and many are going the extra distance to improve the shopping experience.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best auto bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger,?click here.?To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on the link in the blog description box above.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/doOa9xurZsA/MINI-Lexus-get-top-marks-in-sales-satisfaction

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Top Fails - Day 52 - Blog - SoloMid.NET - League of Legends ...

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