Autos
*Chrysler’s first hybrids go on sale in August with base prices of $44,770 for the Aspen Hybrid and $44,540 for the Dodge Durango Hybrid. Both are 2009s. The two-mode hybrid system (so-named because it works in city and highway driving ) was co-developed with General Motors and BMW. Chrysler’s hybrids come with a 5.7-liter V-8 that idles 4 cylinders when cruising and standard all-wheel-drive. Chrysler estimates the fuel economy will be 19 m.p.g. city and 20 highway, compared to 13/18 for conventional V-8 versions. Chrysler expects eligible buyers will quality for a tax credit of $1,800.
*The 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI diesel goes on sale in August with base prices of $21,990 for the sedan and $23,590 for the wagon with the standard 6-speed manual transmission. Prices were not available for the optional automatic. The turbocharged TDI engine is a 2-liter 4-cylinder rated at 30 m.p.g. city/41 highway with the manual and 29/40 with the automatic.
Recall
*About 12,000 ProTaper clamp kits for off-road motorcycles, manufactured in Taiwan and distributed by Tucker Rocky Distributing, have been recalled because they can break and cause the handlebars to fall off. Call 866-217-7750 or visit www.protaper.com or www.cpsc.gov.
Rail
*Amtrak says its passenger service between Milwaukee and Chicago continues to set ridership records. More than 64,000 used the trains in May and for the first five months of the year, the seven daily Hiawatha round trips carried more than 281,000, up 24 percent from a year earlier.
Lakes
*Explorers have found the remains of HMS Ontario, a 22-gun British warship that sank in a storm on the southern shore of Lake Ontario in the last years of the American Revolution. The 80-foot-long brig-sloop is sitting partially on its side in 500 feet of water between Niagara and Rochester, N.Y., explorers Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville say.
FYI
*The Internal Revenue Service is raising for the remainder of this year the mileage rate businesses and others can claim for operating costs — to 58.5 cents a mile from 50.5 cents — in light of higher gas prices.
*U.S. gasoline demand has fallen 3.2 percent, a MasterCard Inc. report shows. Consumers bought an average 9.305 million barrels of gasoline a day in the week ended June 13, down from 9.614 million a year earlier. It was the eighth consecutive week of declines.
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Quick Trips are compiled from the notebook of Rick Popely and from Tribune news services.
