Autos
*Availability of the Pontiac Solstice coupe is still low but has improved from a year ago when a six-month wait between order and delivery was common. “You don’t have to wait six months anymore, depending on the dealer you visit,” Buick-Pontiac-GMC general manager John Larson says, meaning you might snag one sooner at a low-volume dealership. “You now should find two roadsters in stock per dealer.” One may not be the high-performance, in-demand 260-horsepower GXP version, however.
*The rear-wheel-drive 2008 Pontiac G8 sedan that goes on sale in January will offer a choice of 3.6-liter V-6 starting at about $25,000 or a 6-liter V-8 GT starting at about $30,000.
FYI
*Buick-Pontiac-GMC has initiated a program at its dealerships called “a million thanks” for May. Bring a thank-you card for military members serving overseas to any dealer, and the General Motors division will ship the cards to them. The goal is 1 million cards.
*To keep up with competitors, General Motors has new sales incentives for its redesigned full-size pickups. It is offering zero-percent financing on 36-month loans on certain 2007 Chevrolet Silverados and GMC Sierras. GM also is offering reduced-rate financing up to 60-month loans. Or customers can choose between $1,250 and $1,500 cash back in lieu of the financing. The deals run through July 9.
*Indiana’s new license plates will feature the state flag’s torch and stars on a navy blue background with white letters, Bureau of Motor Vehicles officials say. Online voters chose it from among four proposals. The new plates will replace the pastel blue-green farm landscape that had been used since 2003.
People
*Russell W. Kruse, who auctioned everything from funeral parlors to castles, but who achieved fame for building the business of auctioning classic cars, died in Ft. Wayne, Ind. He was 85. Kruse became an auctioneer after his farm flooded two years in a row. He went to a two-week school to learn to be an auctioneer, and in 1971 conceived the idea of selling collectible autos at an auction. The result was Kruse International, which now holds 150 antique auto auctions worldwide, selling more than $200 million worth of cars annually.
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Quick Trips are compiled from the notebooks of Jim Mateja and Rick Popely, and from Tribune news services.
