AUTO ROW'S YEAR MAY BE A GAS MEMORIAL DAY SALES BETTER THAN 2005'S.Byline: EUGENE TONG Staff Writer VALENCIA -- It's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a again for test drives and hard-nosed negotiations in the shadow of a giant inflatable Uncle Sam Uncle Sam, name used to designate the U.S. government. The term arose in the War of 1812 and seems at first to have been used derisively by those opposed to the war. Possibly it was an expansion of the letters "U.S. as local auto row dealers entered the busy summer season with Memorial Day weekend. Gary Marco, president of the Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, Auto Dealers Association, said the holiday weekend proved promising compared with a year ago, though he couldn't cite exact figures Thursday. ``The association is definitely ahead of last year,'' said Marco, general manager at BMW BMW in full Bayerische Motoren Werke AG German automaker. Founded as an aircraft engine manufacturer in 1916, the company assumed the name Bayerische Motoren Werke and became known for its high-speed motorcycles in the 1920s. of Valencia. ``Sales for Memorial Day were very good throughout the whole street. ``We're excited as we move within the summer season. We'll have good (incentive) programs in place.'' The holiday, along with the Fourth of July Fourth of July, Independence Day, or July Fourth, U.S. holiday, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Celebration of it began during the American Revolution. and Labor Day Labor Day, holiday celebrated in the United States and Canada on the first Monday in September to honor the laborer. It was inaugurated by the Knights of Labor in 1882 and made a national holiday by the U.S. Congress in 1894. , are high times for auto dealers to move inventory. The eye-catching balloons, patriotic rock The Patriotic Rock/Freedom Rock is a large (56 ton, 12 foot high) boulder located South West of Des Moines, Iowa. One mile south of Interstate 80 exit #86 (Greenfield-Guthrie Center exit) on Highway 25. music and kiddie kid·die or kid·dy n. pl. kid·dies Slang A small child. kiddie Noun Informal a child bounce tents turned Creekside Road almost into a carnival Monday. But all one dealer needed to attract shoppers was a banner touting $1.99 gasoline. ``We had a good turnout,'' said Frank Hazem, general manager at Power Chevrolet in Valencia. ``The $1.99 (gasoline) GM came out with increased a lot of interest on their product.'' The Detroit automaker, which has seen sales lag for large trucks and sport utility vehicles This page lists sports utility vehicles currently in production (as of April 2007), as well as past models. The list includes crossover SUVs, Mini SUVs, Compact SUVs and other similar vehicles. as gasoline prices spiked to more than $3 a gallon nationwide, is offering buyers of some of those vehicles in California and Florida a gasoline credit. ``I think it's an issue for some of the larger SUVs,'' said Marco, referring to the high fuel prices. ``Where people are driving more long distances, when you fill up some of those tanks, it's $75-$80. It's a shock. The credit, based on estimated mileage, would cap gas prices at $1.99 a gallon until the end of 2007. It all adds up to about $1,000 off, according to industry analysts. The current average for a gallon of regular is about $3.33 in California; $2.81 in Florida, according to the American Automobile Association American Automobile Association (AAA), federation of American automobile clubs, est. 1902. AAA provides a number of benefits to its members, including emergency road service; national and international travel assistance, e.g. . The General Motors' offer applies to 2006 and 2007 models of the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon and Yukon XL, and the Hummer H2 and H3. ``It creates an interest in the product,'' Hazem said. ``It made them actually come in and test it and buy it. It actually made people come and look.'' Yet offering too much of an incentive could dry up future sales. When GM offered deep ``employee pricing'' discounts last summer, it cut into sales for the rest of the year. The city of Santa Clarita said tax revenue from auto sales Auto Sales The major producers of domestic automobiles report sales monthly. These numbers are seasonally adjusted by the U.S. Department of Commerce and are available to the public one to five business days after the end of each month. slipped 4.1 percent in the last three months of 2005 compared with the same period a year ago. ``For some of the domestic lines, where they had a very strong incentive program, their sales dropped off a little bit,'' Marco said. ``But customers are buying again.'' Asked how high gasoline prices would have to go to affect sales this summer, Marco was optimistic, as there's been no 1970s-style fuel rationing. ``We've seen people downsizing (1) Converting mainframe and mini-based systems to client/server LANs. (2) To reduce equipment and associated costs by switching to a less-expensive system. (jargon) downsizing a small amount to save gas,'' he said. ``But we do have the ability to get all the gas we want. ... I think most people will adjust.'' A National Auto Dealers Association study in April found the cost of gas is just one of many factors consumers consider when buying a vehicle, and some have coped by choosing more fuel-efficient drivetrains and engines. ``In a tough competitive market like this, the victories are model by model, not typically across the board for any particular maker,'' Paul Taylor, chief economist for the Virginia-based trade group, said in a statement. Hazem said he has seen some changes in consumer preferences, but nothing large scale. ``We're selling a lot more trucks,'' he said. ``But there seems to be a lot more interest in the cars also. ``I don't think the (gasoline) price has taken that much of a toll. I still see a lot of interest in sport utilities. People continue to need the room and the comfort of a sport utility. It may cost them a little more.'' Asked about his location across the street from a Toyota dealership -- the Japanese carmaker's line of gasoline/electric hybrids has been touted as a model of fuel efficiency -- Hazem laughed. ``It gives us an opportunity to show the Toyota consumer what we have to offer,'' he said. ``They have their Sequoias, we have our Tahoes. They have the Corolla corolla: see petal. , we have our Cobalts. Whatever they have, we have the same, and even better.'' eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com (661) 257-5253 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: General Motors has guaranteed 1.99-a-gallon gas prices for a year on new-vehicle purchases. The incentive is helping sales on Valencia's auto row. David Crane/Staff Photographer |
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