plus 3, Videos From the Web: Car Videos - San Francisco Chronicle

Videos From the Web: Car Videos - San Francisco Chronicle
Phoenix cuts to police, fire may stifle responses, inquiries - AZCentral.com
Making profit plans for vans - Detroit Free Press
M&M to launch 6-7 new variants next fiscal - Economic Times

Videos From the Web: Car Videos - San Francisco Chronicle

Posted: 31 Jan 2010 06:59 AM PST

2005 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 - $8994 www.lujack.com For more information on this vehicle and our full inventory, call us at (877) 449-5511 Lujack's Northpark Auto Plaza 3700 Harrison Street Davenport IA 52806 This Chevy Silverado offers all that you need to be an awesome work truck. With a towing package, safety and convenience features, bed liner and more, you can get everything done that you need to. Very well maintained, this Silverado drives and looks just like new!

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Phoenix cuts to police, fire may stifle responses, inquiries - AZCentral.com

Posted: 31 Jan 2010 06:38 AM PST

Minutes matter when residents call 911. They make the difference between an arrest and a missing criminal. They separate a drowning call from a dead child.

Public-safety leaders said a recent proposal to lay off about 500 sworn Phoenix police officers and firefighters would affect the city's ability to respond to crimes, fires and medical emergencies. But the cuts would also delay investigations.

Even if patrol officers took an auto-theft report, there would be fewer detectives to follow up. Residents also face a decline in those available to probe drug cases and others assigned to hunt violent repeat offenders, city officials said.

The proposal calls for police and fire to eliminate more than 80 civilian-support positions. An additional 90 police and fire supervisors face demotions or reassignment.

The fire marshal and fire-prevention inspectors are on the cut list. The city would lose six engines, a ladder truck and three ambulances - nearly an entire battalion. Community-policing programs, such as those dedicated to liquor enforcement and crime-free multihousing, would be gutted.

City leaders, neighborhood activists and public-safety labor unions are raising concerns that any spike in response times would lead to tragedy.

"The last place they can come off of is the squad cars," said Dwight Amery, a longtime Maryvale neighborhood leader who coordinates resident groups. "Those are the life-and-death situations they have to respond to."

Phoenix police and fire have an authorized sworn force of 3,600 police and 1,700 firefighters. If the proposal carries, the Police Department would eliminate 353 positions from patrol officers to assistant chiefs. The Fire Department would cut 144 across all positions.

After retirements and attrition, the agencies would be forced to operate by July with a combined 4,448 personnel - 852 fewer than the optimal level, based on unfilled vacant positions.

The suggested cuts amount to $53.5 million for police, or about 12 percent of the department's $456.7 million general-fund budget. The Fire Department would cut $25.8 million.

Cuts will be based on seniority. Those laid off will have the least amount of time with their departments. Commanders, captains and other supervisors whose positions made the cut list would be reassigned to new jobs.

The proposed cuts include one community-action officer from each of the city's six precincts and one neighborhood-enforcement team from each precinct - more than 60 positions dedicated to curbing teen-gang violence and other community crime.

"They're involved in the community, they know the principals of the schools, they're our link to the Police Department," said Keenan Strand, a northeast Phoenix neighborhood leader who's worked for nearly a decade with Desert Horizon Precinct on crime-reduction plans in the Palomino community.

Patrol officers respond to 700,000 high-priority calls each year. Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris said the cuts would limit officers' ability to respond to 1 million to 2 million non-emergency calls, such as graffiti reports and burglaries.

Board members of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association said the city's recommendation to lay off patrol officers could prove dangerous. They cited the Thursday shooting that left a Gilbert police lieutenant dead in the wake of a violent traffic stop.

Fire Chief Bob Khan said fire chiefs are working with other Valley agencies to determine the impact on the regional automatic-aid system, which dispatches units based on location and availability rather than municipal boundaries.

Khan said the department's goal of responding to the majority of calls within five minutes could be affected if the department doesn't pay close attention to how it reallocates resources. Firefighters respond to an average of 480 calls each day, though they receive nearly 1,000 daily non-emergency calls.

"We're looking at all 57 fire stations," Khan said. "Until we get the mapping, until we get hard numbers, it's hard to predict how it's going to impact customers."

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Making profit plans for vans - Detroit Free Press

Posted: 31 Jan 2010 06:30 AM PST

Using those figures, Autodata records and IHS projections, the large-pickup market was valued at about $34.5 billion last year. That compares with $3.8 billion for commercial vans. By 2014, the pickup market would increase to about $58.7 billion, and vans would rise to $9.5 billion.

IHS forecasts van sales would more than double by that year to 417,456, with North American production at almost twice 2009's levels.

Jim Hall, an analyst with 2953 Analytics, said automakers should be cautious in setting aside factory capacity for a niche market.

"If this takes off, you're fine, but if not, you're left with an investment in a commercial vehicle you can't recoup," said Hall, based in Birmingham.

European sales of the Turkey-built van began in 2002, and U.S. sales totaled 8,834 last year after Ford brought it to the U.S. in July. Prices start at $21,475, according to Ford, which doesn't give profit margins for individual models.

"We're not doing this for a hobby," said Len Deluca, Ford's head of commercial truck sales and marketing. "It's got to make money and it does."

Nissan's NV2500 van is derived from the 7-year-old Titan pickup and is scheduled to reach showrooms in the fourth quarter, said Joe Castelli, vice president of commercial vehicles and fleet.

Japan's third-largest automaker said in April 2008 that profit on the new North American van might be as much as 8%. After last year's 30% decline in the U.S. commercial-van market, Nissan is no longer giving such estimates, Castelli said.

The NV2500 is to be assembled at the Canton, Miss., truck factory now getting a $118-million overhaul. Nissan is to unveil the production version in March in St. Louis.

GM is studying Ford's van and others to determine whether the automaker needs its own entry, said people familiar with the plans, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. No decision has been made, they said.

A spokesman, Brian Goebel, said GM isn't commenting on any future models beyond the current lineup, which includes the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana large vans.

Chrysler vans based on Fiat commercial-vehicle designs should start arriving in the U.S. in 2012, according to its Nov. 4 business plan.

"We're going to be benefiting from the van applications that Fiat has that we can bring into the United States," said Fred Diaz, head of the Dodge Ram pickup brand. Turin, Italy-based Fiat has been running Chrysler since the U.S. company's June bankruptcy exit.

Nissan is alone so far in building the newest commercial vehicles in the U.S. Chrysler, which has commercial vehicles based on Ram pickup designs, is considering whether to make the Fiat models in the U.S., reassemble them from kits or import them, Diaz said.

Ford said it doesn't plan to produce Transit Connects in North America. To avoid a 25% tax on imported light trucks, they arrive from Turkey with backseats and windows, which are removed before sale.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

M&M to launch 6-7 new variants next fiscal - Economic Times

Posted: 31 Jan 2010 07:06 AM PST

INDORE: Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra on Sunday said it will launch six-to-seven new variants of vehicles across various segments during the next fiscal.

The company also said it plans to formally start production of pick-ups in the US market by the beginning of April 2010. "Next fiscal we will be launching 6-7 new variants of our existing models. The new variants will cover all segment including utility vehicles, commercial vehicles and three wheelers," M&M President (Automotive) Pawan Goenka told media on the sidelines of JK Tyre Baja SAE India 2010 event, where students duke it out in self-designed cars here.

He said the new variants are intended to give a boost to the company's strategy to grow across various segments.

The company had earlier announced plans to launch a sports utility vehicle (SUV) on a completely new platform by early next year. "During the auto-expo in Delhi earlier this month we had launched two models built on completely new platforms including the 'Maximo'. We believe that the Maximo, Geo and our recently launched heavy trucks will act as volume driver next fiscal, while new variant launches will support this," Goenka said.

M&M is also going ahead with the formal launch of production in the US by early April 2010. "We are waiting for homologation of our pick-ups to be completed in the US and we believe this will be done by the end of March. Then we will be ready to roll out the first vehicles by early April."

Regarding the company's plans of growth Goenka said "Till December end we have registered a total sales of 2.25 lakh units and in the January to March quarter, which is generally known for a rise in volume sales, we expect a further growth."

"Next fiscal, we expect to maintain our market share and growth along with the industry average."

The company had earlier said it had suffered production losses to the tune of 5 per cent in the October-December quarter due to supply constraints.

Goenka said the situation is now much better. "There is still some supply constraints but we expect the situation to be back to normal by April."

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.