Autos
*Fisker Automotive, a start-up automaker based in Irvine, Calif., plans to unveil a plug-in hybrid sedan at the Detroit Auto Show in January that it says will be on the market before the end of 2009. The unnamed sedan, styled like a coupe, will be priced at $80,000 and capable of running 50 miles on battery power before a gas or diesel engine kicks in. The batteries can be recharged with household current.
*Honda will introduce a new hybrid in the U.S. in 2009 that will be priced less than the $22,600 Civic Hybrid and more than the Fit subcompact, whose highest base price is $16,070. Honda Chief Operating Officer Takanobu Ito says the new hybrid will seat four to five and probably have styling similar to Honda’s FCX fuel-cell sedan. Honda projects annual sales volumes of 100,000 in North America and 200,000 globally.
*Daimler has introduced its Smart Fortwo, the tiny two-seater that goes on sale early next year, in Silicon Valley. The company used the high-tech mecca as a backdrop because it is targeting early adopting, tech-savvy urban dwellers. Smart will be the first new brand of car sold in the U.S. since Toyota’s youth-oriented Scion division launched, also in California, in 2003.
Air
*A radar room at Gerald R. Ford International Airport, in Grand Rapids, Mich., was closed for several days to eradicate mold from the control tower. The radar room on the sixth floor of the 10-story tower was closed after a 10-square-foot area of mold was found behind soundproofing panels. Radar operations were moved to another part of the tower.
Rail
*Huge ridership gains are tied to increased Amtrak trains in Illinois. Nearly 3.6 million passengers used Amtrak stations in Illinois. Ridership on the Lincoln Service, between Chicago and St. Louis, rose 108 percent. Between Chicago and Carbondale, the Illini and Saluki trains are up 46 percent. On the Chicago-Galesburg-Quincy route of the Illinois Zephyr, Carl Sandburg and others, it’s up 41.4 percent. Nationwide, a record 25.8 million passengers took Amtrak in the last fiscal year, up by 1.5 million from fiscal 2006.
FYI
*U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Holland), wants to know why the Michigan Department of Transportation spent $318,000 in federal cash on a fence to prevent turtles from becoming roadkill along nearly two miles of U.S. 31 in Muskegon. Two state-protected species — the wood turtle and Blanding’s turtle — commonly are traffic victims, as are snapper, painted, box and map turtles.
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Quick Trips are compiled from the notebook of Rick Popely and from Tribune news services.
