GM introduces new sedan in China

GM introduces new sedan in China

BEIJING

General Motors Co. on Tuesday launched a new low-priced sedan in China as part of a push to develop new business in untapped areas of the world’s largest automobile market.

The Baojun 630 initially is being targeted at drivers in the country’s second- and third-tier cities outside the major markets of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, GM said in a news release. Other cities will be targeted at a later date, it said.

Global automakers are looking to China to boost sales amid weak demand in the developed world and are increasingly focusing on smaller inland cities that have been overlooked in the drive to snag wealthy customers along the more-prosperous coast.

Auto sales in China last year climbed 32 percent to 18 million vehicles.

Newsstand sales of magazines down 9%

NEW YORK

Sales of U.S. magazines at newsstands and other retail outlets fell 9 percent in the first six months of the year in a sign of readers’ trimming discretionary spending, according to figures from an industry trade group released Tuesday.

Although overall circulation was down just 1 percent, the larger drop in the single-copy sales figure is troubling for magazine publishers. That’s because publishers typically make more from those sales than from subscriptions, which are sold at a discount so publishers can boost circulation and lure advertisers.

Single-copy sales have been declining steadily. The Audit Bureau of Circulations, an industry trade group, says that in the latest period, the 418 titles examined sold 29.8 million copies at retail outlets, compared with 32.8 million a year earlier. Overall circulation was 301 million, down from 305 million.

The figures include digital sales, such as those on Apple’s iPad tablet computer.

NRC staff: Reactor design is safe

ATLANTA

An attempt to build the first brand-new nuclear- power plant in a generation has taken a step forward now that staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says plans to build new reactors in Georgia meet safety requirements.

The federal regulators issued two related safety reports Friday that cleared the design of Westinghouse Electric Co.’s AP1000 nuclear reactor and plans by the Atlanta-based Southern Co. to build two of those reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta. The NRC’s commissioners still must decide whether to give final approval to the reactor design and its construction in Georgia.

Falling gas prices provide some relief

DENVER

Gasoline cost nearly $4 a gallon this spring. Now it’s inching closer to $3.

That is giving worried families some relief and easing one of the biggest drags on the economy.

Gasoline has fallen to $3.65 a gallon, down 30 cents from early May. If it drops to $3.35 next month, as some experts predict, the typical driver will be paying $33 less a month than in the spring.

Associated Press