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Billboards will talk to mini owners
By TIMES WIRES
Published February 5, 2007
Mini USA has begun delivering custom messages to Mini Cooper owners on digital signs the company calls "talking" billboards. The boards, which usually carry typical advertising, are programmed to identify approaching Mini drivers through a coded signal from a radio chip embedded in their key fob. The messages are personal, based on questionnaires that owners filled out: "Mary, moving at the speed of justice," if Mary is a lawyer, or "Mike, the special of the day is speed," if Mike is a chef. The enthusiastic guinea pigs for the Mini experiment will be more than a thousand Mini owners in Miami, New York, Chicago and San Francisco who have signed up for what the company calls "an ever-changing array of unique, personal, playful and unexpected messages." A social network for hybrid owners Toyota Motor Corp., which leads the auto industry in sales of hybrids in the United States, hopes cyber networking will give it an extra boost. The automaker has retooled its hybrid Web site so hybrid owners - and those who desire to be - can connect like they do on social-networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. On the Toyota hybrid site, which users can link to from www.toyota.com, hybrid owners create profiles that can include information such as age and gender, but instead of discussing dating interests and upcoming events as people do on other social-networking sites, Toyota is encouraging hybrid owners to discuss and create videos about why they use hybrid technology. Ford spiffs up its two small SUVs Ford Motor Co. is rolling out updated versions of two small sport utility vehicles that are among the keys to the company's turnaround plans. The 2008 Ford Escape, above, and Mercury Mariner models, also above, redesigned inside and out, feature new extras, including standard MP3 audio jacks and materials that promise a quieter ride, but they will carry smaller stickers than their predecessors. Gas versions of the Escape, the best-selling small SUV, will start at $19,246, with hybrid gasoline-electric versions starting at $25,740, an average decrease of $1,100 from the recommended retail price of 2007 models. The Mariner's average suggested price drops by $1,300, with gas versions starting at $21,395 and hybrids at $26,430.
[Last modified February 5, 2007, 10:24:33]
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