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Compiled from Times wires
Published June 29, 2006
It's official: Smart car coming in 2008 DaimlerChrysler AG will team with former auto racer and businessman Roger Penske to sell the funky and fuel-efficient two-seat Smart car in the United States starting early in 2008, the automaker's CEO, Dieter Zetsche, said Wednesday. Penske's United Auto Group Inc. will be responsible for picking potential dealers and developing and maintaining a Smart vehicle dealership network throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. It will focus mainly on highly populated areas and have 30 to 50 dealerships, Penske said. Smart will sell the next generation of its "fortwo" model, which has been popular in Europe. It gets an average of 40 miles per gallon in combined city-highway driving and will sell for less than $15,000. The company says it can get up to 69 mpg on the highway. Hyundai's chairman released on bail Hyundai Motor Co. chairman Chung Mong-koo left jail Wednesday, ending two months of confinement and paving the way for his return to day-to-day management of South Korea's largest automaker. Hyundai has been without Chung since late April, when he was arrested and jailed for his alleged role in creating a slush fund by embezzling money from affiliates. Chung, 68, was released around midafternoon and immediately checked into a hospital for a health exam, said Jake Jang of Hyundai. Other chatter NO MORE MILLIONAIRE AT DISNEY WORLD: Walt Disney World is closing the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire - Play It! game at Disney-MGM Studios and may replace it with a new indoor ride. The interactive game, modeled after the once-popular TV show, will play for the last time Aug. 19. The new ride is described as a cross between Universal Studios' Men in Black and Disneyland's Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin indoor rides. WORLD CUP BALL A BIG SELLER: Adidas AG has gotten a big kick from sales of its official World Cup ball since it debuted in December. CEO Herbert Hainer said Wednesday that since the Teamgeist ball - German for "team spirit" - went on sale, about 15-million of the 14-panel balls have been scooped up by buyers worldwide. The retail price averages $113 to $138.
[Last modified June 29, 2006, 07:01:33]
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