Feds release 2010 Fuel Economy Guide, Prius still
2010 Toyota Prius – Click above for high-res image gallery
Fake Glashutte Watches
Quick – what’s the most fuel efficient car currently for sale in America? Did you guess the Toyota Prius? If so Tag Heuer Replica Watches, give yourself a cookie, you’re right. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Replica Patek Philippe Watches, the 2010 version of Toyota’s seminal hybrid once again scores the mileage victory with its estimated 51 mpg city and 48 highway.
Second place is grabbed by a set of newcomers to the hybrid arena for the 2010 model year: Ford’s Fusion sedan and its sibling from Mercury Wholesale Replica Harry Winston Watches, the Milan. The Blue Oval’s hybrid duo earn EPA ratings of 41 city and 36 highway Replica Jaeger LeCoultre Watches for Cheap, making them the most fuel efficient midsize sedans in America.
Rounding out the top 10 vehicle platforms are the Civic Hybrid and Insight from Honda; the Lexus HS 250h; the Nissan Altima Hybrid; the Ford Escape Replica Free Gift Watches, Mazda Tribute and Mercury Mariner hybrid ‘utes; Smart’s Fortwo coupe and cabriolet (the only non-hybrids in the top 10); Toyota’s Camry Hybrid and finally the Lexus RX 450h.
Want to know where your next car comes in on the federal government’s list for 2010? Click here to find out.
Related GalleryReview: 2010 Toyota Prius
[Source: fueleconomy.gov via Green Car Congress]
Audis $301,000 Topless Racer Targets Ferrari to Be
By Andreas Cremer
July 1 (Bloomberg) — Audi AG is taking aim at Ferrari SpA with a convertible version of the R8 GT supercar, as the Volkswagen AG unit hones a high-end sporty image in its quest to overtake Bayerische Motoren Werke AG as the luxury-car leader.
The R8 GT Spyder, Audi’s most expensive series production car, boasts carbon-fiber in the front and rear spoilers to reduce weight and help the car accelerate to 100 kilometers (62 miles) per hour in 3.8 seconds. Priced from 207,800 euros ($301,300), the model costs more than Ferrari’s California and the Mercedes-Benz SLS roadster, underscoring Audi’s ambitions.
“Audi is pursuing its campaign for the top luxury slot with heart and soul,” said Wolfgang Meinig, head of the Bamberg Tag heuer replica watches, Germany-based FAW Research Center for the Automobile Industry. “They have steadily enhanced their product portfolio and are engaged in refining the top end of the range.”
The open-top version of the R8 GT is part of Chief Executive Officer Rupert Stadler’s strategy to topple BMW by 2015. Because of the higher margins of luxury cars, Audi is critical to parent Volkswagen AG’s efforts to surpass Toyota Motor Corp. in sales and profit by 2018. Audi accounted for 47 percent of VW’s profit last year, while selling 18 percent of the group’s vehicles.
Stadler will today complete a two-day presentation to Audi’s top management, where he lays out a plan to capture the lead by further expanding the model lineup, two people familiar with the matter said. The Ingolstadt, Germany-based manufacturer intends to increase its product range to about 60 models by 2020 from 37 now, the people said, speaking on condition that they not be identified because the talks are private.
New Models
Under consideration is the A9, a two-door coupe based on the A8 flagship, one of the people said. The model would compete with Mercedes’s $113,150 CL and mark a further expansion of high-end offerings, which typically have better profit margins. Last year, the manufacturer introduced the A7 Sportback and updated the A8 to compete with Mercedes’s S-Class and BMW’s 7- Series. Audi’s lineup starts with the 15,800-euro A1 subcompact.
Audi needs to regain ground, with BMW widening its lead this year. Boosted by the revamped X3 sport-utility vehicle and 5-Series sedan and wagon, the BMW brand sold 20,000 more cars than Audi in the first five months, compared with a gap of 10,500 a year earlier.
Backed by the expanded model lineup, Audi will target sales of 2 million vehicles a year by 2020, up from a goal of 1.2 million this year and 1.5 million in 2015 Breitling replica watches, the people said. The target would match BMW’s aim of selling at least 2 million cars by 2020. Esther Bahne, a spokeswoman for Audi, declined to comment on the carmaker’s future model policy.
Limited Production
Competitors aren’t sitting idly by. Stuttgart-based Mercedes is building a factory in Hungary to support the rollout of four compact models, which will challenge Audi’s A3 for younger drivers. BMW, based in Munich, is developing a new line of front-wheel drive models and is rolling out the “i” electric-car sub-brand.
Audi will limit production of the R8 GT Spyder, which is largely assembled by hand, to 333 cars, Joachim Radde, head of sports cars at Audi’s high-performance Quattro division, said in an interview. The car, which is hitting the market less than a year after the coupe, will be available to order starting in August. The line will likely sell out by year’s end, Radde said.
“The R8 GT Spyder will be a boon to both image and margins,” Radde said by phone from Audi’s headquarters. “There’s demand for such top-of-the-range vehicles, and we’re paying heed to that.”
‘Extravagant Models’
Audi, which has sold all 333 of the coupe version, will begin deliveries of the soft-top Spyder in December. The car’s 10-cylinder engine powers it to a top speed of 317 kilometers per hour. The starting price is 16 percent more than the 179,400-euro Ferrari California and 6.5 percent more than the 195,200-euro Mercedes SLS roadster.
“The introduction of such extravagant models help Audi raise selling prices,” said Stefan Bratzel, director of the Center of Automotive Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Bergisch-Gladbach, Germany. “The image-enhancing effects are huge.”
The new Audi hits the market at the same time as the Mercedes SLS roadster, which could be ordered from June 1. The soft-top version of the gull-wing supercar is also largely hand made. Its eight-cylinder, 571-horsepower engine takes about three hours to assemble, spokesman Pietro Zollino said.
Supercar Competition
Mercedes relies on reinforced aluminum to reduce the car’s weight and help the roadster nearly match the performance of the gull-wing version, which accelerates to 60 miles per hour in 3.7 seconds and has a top speed of 197 miles per hour, Zollino said.
BMW is following a different supercar strategy and will introduce the i8, which combines electric motors and a combustion engine, after rolling out a battery-powered city car in 2013. The hybrid supercar will have its entire frame woven from light-weight carbon fiber. It doesn’t have a direct competitor to the R8 GT.
“Audi is progressing rapidly in its endeavor to close the gap on BMW,” said Bratzel. “The R8 GT Spyder is rounding off a product range that’s very comprehensive already.”
–Editor: Chris Reiter, Heather Harris
To contact the reporter on this story: Andreas Cremer in Berlin at acremer@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net
Business Exchange E-mail Print READER DISCUSSION
Severe Thunderstorms, Wind and Hail Heading Toward
By Brian K. Sullivan
July 29 (Bloomberg) — Severe thunderstorms are expected today across the U.S. Northeast, including New York City, with wind gusting as high as 70 miles per hour and hail almost as large as golf balls, the National Weather Service said.
A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect from New York to Philadelphia until 11 p.m., according to the weather service.
“Thunderstorms are expected to increase in coverage and intensity this afternoon,” according to a weather service bulletin. “Persons in these areas should be on the lookout for threatening weather.”
There is a possibility a tornado may form in southeastern New York or northeastern Pennsylvania Rolex replica watches, according to the U.S. Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
The storms are being driven by high humidity, said Mike Pigott, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania.
“It is the urban flooding that concerns me more, because there will be very heavy rain associated with these thunderstorms,” Pigott said.
At any given moment, there are 1 Tag heuer replica watches,800 thunderstorms in progress somewhere in the world, and lightning has killed 13 people in the U.S. this year, the weather service said. An average of 57 people a year have been killed by lightning in the past six years.
–Editors: Charlotte Porter, Richard Stubbe
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net.
Business Exchange E-mail Print READER DISCUSSION
Ruble Gains Most in Two Weeks on Higher Oil, U.S.
By Denis Maternovsky
Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) — The ruble strengthened the most against the dollar in two weeks as oil, Russia’s chief export revenue earner, climbed for a third day and a report showed U.S. consumer spending increased more than forecast.
Russia’s currency appreciated 0.6 percent, its biggest daily gain since Aug. 15 Cartier replica watches, to 28.7690 per dollar by the 7 p.m. close of trading in Moscow. The currency weakened 0.6 percent to 41.8200 per euro.
Crude for October delivery gained 2.2 percent to $87.26 a barrel in New York. Personal spending in the world’s largest economy rose 0.8 percent in July, compared with a 0.5 percent increase predicted in a Bloomberg survey, as autos sold at the fastest pace in three months, the Commerce Department said.
Investors pared bets that the ruble will decline, with non- deliverable forwards showing the currency at 29.0990 per dollar in three months compared with 29.4600 on Aug. 26. The contracts provide a guide to expectations of currency movements and interest-rate differentials and allow companies to hedge against currency swings.
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble little changed at 34.6419 against the central bank’s target currency basket Tag heuer replica watches, which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters. The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollar’s rate to the ruble by 0.55, the euro to ruble rate by 0.45, then adding them together.
–Editors: Stephen Kirkland,
To contact the reporter on this story: Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovsky@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net
Business Exchange E-mail Print READER DISCUSSION
Ronnie Wood – Ronnie Wood Wants To Work With Mark
Ronnie Wood Wants To Work With Mark Ronson
Ronnie Wood would be ”honoured” to work with Mark Ronson and the band who played on Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back to Black’ album.
Ronnie Wood is planning to work with Mark Ronson.
The Rolling Stones rocker would be “honoured” to work with the producer and the Dap Kings, the group of musicians who recorded with Amy Winehouse on her ‘Back to Black’ album.
Mark said: “We’d love you to come out and play on some stuff.”
Ronnie replied: “I’m going to hold you to it with Amy’s band, you want me to play any sessions you’re going do, Mark. I’m definitely going to do that, what an honour for me to play with Amy Winehouse’s band.
Mark admitted Amy – who was found dead at her London home in July – was the most talented singer he has ever worked with.
Speaking to Ronnie on his Absolute Radio show, he said: “Her voice is so good, you forget. I mean, because I’ve heard it so many times it kind of just like becomes so abstract. Then I listen to her sing, I’m just like ‘She’s the best singer I ever worked with’, you know.”
As well as producing ‘Back to Black’, Mark worked with Amy on a cover of ‘Valerie’ for his album ‘Version’ and while the single was popular, the producer told how Amy preferred an earlier version they recorded of the track.
He explained: “We recorded it, the original way we recorded it is much more of like a Curtis Mayfield soul-type record, and then we’d done eight takes of that and everyone’s packing up their guitars, and at the last minute I was kind of like ‘Can we just do one with like the You Can’t Hurry Love beat’.
“So it was like one of those things where it was kind of like lucky that we just, as they’re out the door, we cut it like that. But the original way is the way that she really loved it and it was kind of her favourite version, it’s a version that I guess she always meant it.”
Robinsons Land eyes 1-for-2 rights issue
MANILA, Philippines – Property developer Robinsons Land Corp. announced Wednesday that its board of directors has approved a plan to undertake a stock rights offering.
"The board of directors is authorized to determine the final terms and conditions and implement any transaction in connection with the increase of shares of the corporation, including Tag heuer replica watches, but not limited to the stock rights offering, public offering or such other type of transaction without the necessity of obtaining furthur approval from the stockholders," the company said in a disclosure to the local bourse.
Company President Frederick Go told ANC that they are studying a one-for-two rights offer, meaning stockholders will be entitled to one new share for every two they own.
He said the size of the offer will be determined after the pricing in April or May.
Robinsons Land is holding a special stockholders meeting next week to vote on the increase in the property firm’s authorized capital stock.
Robinsons Land is the property arm of conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc. Omega replica watches, which is owned by the Gokongwei Group.
It earlier reported a 17% rise in its net income to P1.016 billion during the first quarter of its fiscal year ending December 2010. – With ANC
Giambi brothers say Bonds trainer provided steroid
SAN FRANCISCO – Jason Giambi of the Colorado Rockies and his brother, former major league player Jeremy Giambi, testified at the perjury trial of baseball home run king Barry Bonds on Tuesday that they used illegal anabolic steroids obtained from Bonds’ personal trainer.
Jason Giambi, the American League Most Valuable Player in 2000 Tag heuer replica watches, described how he started using the muscle-building drugs after meeting trainer Greg Anderson at an all-star baseball game in Japan.
Jeremy Giambi and Bonds’ former San Francisco Giants’ teammate Marvin Benard also testified to using steroids as well as human growth hormones from Anderson.
"I was picking Greg’s brain as to what kind of training Barry was doing — was he lifting weights, what was he doing in the gym," Jason Giambi said. "Barry was a great athlete. I just wanted to continue my career so I wanted to get information from him."
Jason Giambi said that Anderson subsequently sent him packages containing steroids he called "the clear and the cream," explaining that the cream was testosterone and the clear was epitestosterone. The package included a syringe with injectable steroids, which Giambi said he used.
Anderson told Jason Giambi that Major League Baseball’s drug tests were designed to detect the ratio of testosterone and epitestosterone — and that by raising the levels of both Tag heuer replica watches, Giambi could increase testosterone levels without testing positive for illegal steroids, Giambi said.
Bonds has pleaded not guilty
Bonds has pleaded not guilty to charges that he lied to a grand jury about whether he knowingly used the same substances. His case is the latest in a years-long U.S. investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in professional sports.
The charges stem from his 2003 appearance before a U.S. grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO, whose head has pleaded guilty to dispensing steroids to professional athletes.
Jason Giambi plays at first base for the Rockies. He has played in the major leagues since 1995 with the Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees and the Rockies. He once was one of baseball’s leading sluggers and has hit 415 career home runs.
A report in 2004 that Jason Giambi had admitted steroid use in the BALCO investigation helped spark a controversy about performance-enhancing drugs in baseball and led to a high-profile probe by former U.S. senator George Mitchell.
Dressed in a blue suit and striped tie, the bearded Giambi said he used the drugs for a few months before abandoning them.
Later his brother Jeremy — who played for the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox — said he bought a package of the clear and the cream as well as injectable steroids and human growth hormone from Anderson.
"I believe he referred to it as an alternative or undetectable steroid," Jeremy Giambi said, referring to the testosterone. He said he was already using the steroid "Deca" but wanted to get an undetectable steroid because Major League Baseball was introducing new drug tests in 2003.
Benard ended the day, telling of using steroids he obtained from Mexico before meeting Anderson through his teammate Bonds. Anderson supplied him first with "Deca" and later with "the clear" and "the cream," injectable testosterone and human growth hormone, he said.
He said he stopped using Anderson’s drugs because they made him feel "stiff as a two-by-four."
Bonds had told the BALCO grand jury he did not knowingly use steroids or human growth hormone and never questioned the flaxseed oil, vitamins, protein shakes and creams he said that Anderson supplied him.
In 2001, Bonds hit 73 home runs, a single-season record that still stands. In 2007, his last season in the major leagues, he broke Hank Aaron’s 33-year-old record of 755 career home runs.
Fitch affirms PNB, Allied Bank ratings
SINGAPORE – Credit watcher Fitch Ratings has affirmed the individual ratings of Philippine National Bank (PNB) at ‘D/E’ and Allied Banking Corporation (Allied Bank) at ‘D.’
A rating of ‘D’ means a bank has weaknesses of internal and/or external origin, and there are concerns regarding its profitability and balance sheet integrity, franchise, management, operating environment or prospects.
On the other hand, an ‘E’ rating means a bank has serious problems, which either requires or is likely to require external support.
Fitch said PNB’s rating reflects its reasonably strong franchise owing to a longstanding history, but also its low profitability and weak balance sheet.
"While the bank’s reported non-performing assets have steadily declined over the years, they still remained substantial at 11.5% of total assets at end-2009 Cartier replica watches, well above the industry average of 3% to 4%. These bad assets could be a threat to PNB’s solvency position in the event of a difficult environment," Fitch said in a report on Thursday.
Fitch said Allied Bank’s rating reflects its comparatively healthier balance sheet with a strong capital buffer that mitigates the risks of its concentrated loan book and weak underlying profitability.
While Allied Bank has a better risk profile than PNB, the expected share-swap merger of the two banks has a negative financial impact on Allied Bank’s profile, but it will be positive for PNB’s credit profile.
Fitch said the financial position of both entities on a combined basis has improved since early-2008 when the merger was formally announced, and likely to improve further on the back of an improving economic environment in the Philippines.
PNB and Allied Bank are both controlled by the Lucio Tan Group. The plan to merge both banks is still pending regulatory approval Tag heuer replica watches, after which Tan’s group will still hold a controlling stake in the enlarged entity.
Woody Allen praises Carla Bruni’s acting
ROME – US film director Woody Allen praised French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy’s acting after working with her on a movie he is shooting in Paris.
"She was very professional Tag heuer replica watches, she interpreted the role… so well that each and every frame shot will appear in the movie, nothing will be cut," Allen told Italian daily Il Corriere della Sera in an interview posted on its website Saturday.
Bruni-Sarkozy plays a tour guide at the Rodin Museum in "Midnight in Paris", a romantic comedy starring French actress Marion Cotillard and US actor Owen Wilson that is set to be released in 2011.
Allen, who is still shooting the movie in Paris, said Bruni-Sarkozy’s husband, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, showed up on the set to see and hear his wife act.
"Like all other non-staff he had to settle for staying at the side of the set Cartier replica watches," Allen said.
"We gave him a headset to hear the lines Carla was saying… he was very satisfied," Allen added.
Cameroon-born Aussie boxer gets title fight with W
NEW YORK – Cameroon-born Australian fighter Sakio Bika will meet unbeaten Andre Ward for the American’s World Boxing Association super middleweight title on November 27 in Ward’s hometown of Oakland Tag heuer replica watches, California.
Promoters announced Friday that Bika would replace injured Andre Dirrell as Ward’s opponent in what was to have been part of the Super Six World Boxing Classic but will instead be simply a title defense for Ward.
Bika, 28-4 with two drawn and 19 knockouts, could walk off with one of the Super Six top prizes, even though he was not added to the tournament’s field, if he can upset Ward, 22-0 with 13 knockouts.
The Super Six event, with two world titles at stake, has been diminished by pullouts from three fighters due to injuries, the most recent being American Dirrell last week because of dizziness and headaches.
Ward was awarded two points in the Super Six standings for a forfeit victory due to Dirrell’s pullout and has now clinched a spot in next year’s semi-finals with a tournament-best six points.
Also now set for the semi-finals are Germany’s Arthur Abraham and Britain’s Carl Froch, who meet in Helsinki on November 27 for the vacant World Boxing Council super middleweight crown.
The fourth spot will be decided November 6 between two injury-replacement Super Six fighters Breitling replica watches, American Allan Green and Jamaican-born Glen Johnson, in a bout at Las Vegas.
Green is a fill-in for countryman Jermain Taylor while Johnson replaced Denmark’s Mikkel Kessler.