Autos
*United Auto Group says that in just five weeks it has received $99 deposits from 12,600 people eager to buy DaimlerChrysler’s two-seat Smart when it hits U.S. showrooms in 2008. United Auto began a program in March that let customers be a Smart “insider” and get on a waiting list in return for a refundable $99 deposit. Smart cars, about the size of golf carts, are slated to start at less than $12,000.
*BMW will increase U.S production to shield itself from the weaker dollar and meet potential growth in the U.S., its biggest market. The company is boosting capacity of its plant in Spartanburg, S.C., to 200,000 vehicles a year from 140,000. It will build more Z4 sports cars and X5 sport-utility vehicles and add production of its planned X6 and next-generation X3.
Recall
*Chrysler Group is recalling more than 400,000 2005 Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country minivans to deal with air bags that may not deploy because of corrosion on the sensors in states that use large amounts of road salt. Brass brushings on the front bag sensors could corrode and crack, allowing water to enter the sensor and causing it to fail. The air bag warning light would illuminate.
FYI
*GM says 72 percent of its Buick, Pontiac and GMC dealers are now consolidated into single-channel stores. It sees that rising to 80 percent by year-end.
*Buick-Pontiac-GMC general manager John Larson says 43 percent of all Pontiac buyers in the last 12 months moved over from an import, especially those who bought a Solstice roadster or Vibe sedan. In that period, import trade-ins have doubled, with those from Toyota and Nissan equaling Fords taken in trade.
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Quick Trips are compiled from the notebooks of Jim Mateja and Rick Popely, and from Tribune news services.
