Word: minivan
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...both models were strong performers in January, in what was otherwise a subpar month. So the automaker not only gets an opportunity to reap a windfall in sales; it also can liquidate excess inventory without adjusting production levels or resorting to incentives. Supplies of its Pilot SUV and Odyssey minivan are about normal, and only its popular CRV crossover is in short supply...
Inaba said Toyota plans to launch 10 new products this year, beginning with a redesigned 2011 Sienna minivan and later with the official launch of a $375,000 Lexus supercar, the carbon-fiber LFA. Also, the Toyota Scion will expand its product line...
...That fact was obvious one recent Wednesday morning at a Wuling minivan dealership in Xi'an. Customers streamed into the showroom, briefly opened and closed the doors of the displayed minivans, and then marched over to the front desk to plop down their money, often within mere minutes of arriving. Xu Zhanrong, the dealership's deputy general manager, can barely keep the Wulings in stock. Sales of the minivans - manufactured by a joint venture between General Motors, Liuzhou Wuling Motors and Shanghai Automotive Industry - are up some 40% this year, Xu says, with about 50 purchased each...
...There is also concern that growth will slip backward once China's recession-fighting stimulus is scaled back. One reason Xu's minivan sales have accelerated is government tax breaks and rebates offered on certain car purchases - incentives that won't last forever. State subsidies have also been given to rural residents to spur sales of refrigerators and washing machines. Though the government is implementing longer-lasting plans to convince citizens to spend more money (including a $125 billion program to improve national health care, especially in less developed regions), those efforts will take years to reach their full impact...
...population. Along with these very long-term efforts to boost consumer confidence, the government has also implemented short-term measures to spur on spending. Car sales this year have been boosted by tax breaks and China's own "cash-for-clunkers" program. Xu Zhanrong's Wuling minivan sales have been helped along by a special 10% rebate offered on certain vehicles to residents of rural areas, who make up a majority of Xu's customers. (See TIME's photoessay "China Rebuilds.") (See TIME's photoessay "China's Electronic Waste Village...