Word: minivan
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...That fact was obvious one recent Wednesday morning at a Wuling minivan dealership in Xi'an. Customers streamed into the showroom, briefly opened and closed the doors of the displayed minivans, and then marched over to the front desk to plop down their money, often within mere minutes of arriving. Xu Zhanrong, the dealership's deputy general manager, can barely keep the Wulings in stock. Sales of the minivans - manufactured by a joint venture between General Motors, Liuzhou Wuling Motors and Shanghai Automotive Industry - are up some 40% this year, Xu says, with about 50 purchased each...
...There is also concern that growth will slip backward once China's recession-fighting stimulus is scaled back. One reason Xu's minivan sales have accelerated is government tax breaks and rebates offered on certain car purchases - incentives that won't last forever. State subsidies have also been given to rural residents to spur sales of refrigerators and washing machines. Though the government is implementing longer-lasting plans to convince citizens to spend more money (including a $125 billion program to improve national health care, especially in less developed regions), those efforts will take years to reach their full impact...
...Wuling minivan dealership on the outskirts of the western Chinese city of Xi'an provides hope for the future of the global economy. On an ordinary Wednesday morning, customers steadily stream into the showroom, briefly open and close the doors to the displayed minivans, manufactured by a joint venture between General Motors and two Chinese carmakers, and then march over to the front desk to plop down their money. While salesmen in the U.S. struggle to move cars off their lots, Xu Zhanrong, the deputy general manager of the Xi'an dealership, can barely keep the Wulings in stock. Sales...
...population. Along with these very long-term efforts to boost consumer confidence, the government has also implemented short-term measures to spur on spending. Car sales this year have been boosted by tax breaks and China's own "cash-for-clunkers" program. Xu Zhanrong's Wuling minivan sales have been helped along by a special 10% rebate offered on certain vehicles to residents of rural areas, who make up a majority of Xu's customers. (See TIME's photoessay "China Rebuilds.") (See TIME's photoessay "China's Electronic Waste Village...
...Indian Village security guard's job is much like that of any cop on the beat. That afternoon Cooper investigated a report of suspicious activity from one of the neighborhood's few markets. (The suspects, sitting in a brown minivan, turned out to be selling state-issued cards used to buy food.) He continued his patrol, eyeing the men walking up and down the street. "If you notice a guy stopping and staring" at a house, Cooper says, "he's obviously up to no good." Especially suspicious are people who walk up to homes and stuff flyers into doors. Sometimes...