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Business Digest: Cruze named Urban Car of Year
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James and Ruth Cain of Salem check out a 2011 Chevrolet Cruze at Stadium GM Superstore in Salem on Wednesday. James Cain, a GM retiree, said he was impressed with the car.
Urban Car of Year
DETROIT
The Lordstown-built Chevrolet Cruze has been named Decisive Auto’s 2010 Urban Car of the Year. The prize, announced Tuesday, is the result of a vote by judges at Decisive Media and an independent panel of 15 automotive journalists. The Cruze was recognized for its styling, fuel economy and segment-leading safety features.
“If you really want to see evidence of a turnaround at GM, look no further than Cruze,” Decisive Auto editor Lyndon Conrad Bell said in a statement. He noted the car’s “enjoyable driving experience, exceptional practicality and ready affordability” as key factors in this year’s award decision.
Affiliate expanding
HERMITAGE, PA
F.N.B. Corp., the parent company of First National Bank, announced Tuesday that the company is expanding its consumer-finance affiliate, Regency Finance Co., with the addition of eight new offices. Seven of the offices will be located in Kentucky, representing F.N.B.’s first business enterprise in that state. These offices expand the company’s presence to five states.
Regency Finance Co. has opened offices in the Kentucky cities of Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Hopkinsville, Madisonville and Owensboro, as well as an office in East Knoxville, Tenn. Two additional locations are scheduled to open in Henderson and Paducah, Ky., by January. With the new locations, Regency Finance Co. will operate 64 offices in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Process streamlined
COLUMBUS
The Ohio Department of Insurance and the Ohio Association of Health Plans launched a new form to streamline the health- insurance-application process Tuesday. App1210, also known as the Ohio Uniform Small Group Application, is a standardized small-group employee application form that simplifies for employers seeking quotes from multiple health-insurance carriers. The form aims to make the application process easier for insurance agents, employers and employees.
Participating Ohio health insurers are Aetna, AultCare, HealthAmerica, Medical Mutual of Ohio, Paramount, SummaCare/Summa Insurance Company, The Health Plan and UnitedHealthcare.
Ohioans with questions about health insurance can visit www.insurance.ohio.gov or contact the Ohio Department of Insurance at 800-686-1526.
Gasoline prices drop
YOUNGSTOWN
Gasoline prices in Northeast Ohio have dropped 2.6 cents at the pump this week, according to the American Automobile Association’s Fuel Gauge. The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in the region is $2.822. The decline is the result of a drop in crude-oil prices because of the strength of the country’s overall economy. Slow growth and instability overseas, as well as anxiety over Ireland’s sovereign-debt crisis, have strengthened the U.S. dollar.
The national retail average for a gallon of regular gasoline is $2.854, down 1.6 cents last week, but up from the national average of $2.629 a year ago.
Confidence higher
NEW YORK
Americans’ confidence in the economy rose to a five-month high in November, showing increased optimism for the first half of next year.
The report offered some comfort to the nation’s retailers during the holiday shopping season, but shoppers still remain downbeat as they grapple with a high unemployment rate. Moreover, the latest report on housing, released Tuesday, showed that home prices weakened in September.
The Conference Board, a private research group based in New York, said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index rose to 54.1 in November, up from a revised 49.9 in October. It takes a level of 90 to indicate a healthy economy.
Vindicator staff/wire reports