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Transylvania offers this real estate bite

By TIMES WIRES
Published December 15, 2006

Dracula's castle may change hands again after the U.S.-based owner, a descendant of the Romanian royal family, offered to sell the 800-year-old Transylvanian fortress to the local government. The building was returned by Romanian authorities to Dominic von Habsburg in May after the government nationalized property, including royal residences, 58 years ago. Built in 1212 by Teutonic knights, the castle was briefly used two centuries later by Romanian ruler Vlad the Impaler, who inspired Bram Stoker's Count Dracula legend. Von Habsburg, 68, is the grandson of former Queen Marie of Romania.

Chinese hone taste for luxury wheels

China bought nearly 60 percent more Rolls-Royce cars this year than last year, becoming the British luxury carmaker's fastest-growing market, the company's chief executive said Thursday. Ian Robertson said the company will meet growing demand in China by adding three dealerships in the country next year, expanding the total to seven. The most expensive car in its custom-built range, the Phantom, was recently sold to a Chinese entrepreneur in Beijing for more than $2-million. The country will have bought 70 Rolls-Royce vehicles by the end of the year, Robertson said.

Sony sticks to its PS3 delivery goals

Sony is sticking to its target of shipping 6-million PlayStation 3 consoles by the end of the fiscal year that runs through March, president Ryoji Chubachi said Thursday, addressing concerns the company might not meet demand. The electronics giant is also sticking to its target of shipping 2-million PlayStation 3 consoles by the end of the calendar year, he said. Tokyo-based Sony Corp. also wants to launch its next generation system in Europe as soon as possible. The PS3 made its highly anticipated world debut in Japan in November to long lines, with local stores selling out their supplies of the video game console in a pattern that was followed days later at the U.S. opening.

JetBlue moves to add space, cut cost

JetBlue Airways, trying to improve its appeal to travelers and cut costs in one move, said Wednesday that it planned to remove a row of seats from all 96 of its Airbus 320 planes, giving the front 11 rows 36 inches between seatbacks, instead of the current 32 inches. Reducing seating to 150 seats from 156 will allow JetBlue to fly the Airbus 320 with three flight attendants instead of the four. That, and some fuel savings because the plane will carry less weight, will cut costs by about $6-million a year, even after taking into account some lost sales because of the fewer seats.

[Last modified December 14, 2006, 22:43:49]