Oregon company buys isle auto dealerships
Oregon-based Lithia Motors Inc. has acquired Honolulu Buick GMC Cadillac and Honolulu Volkswagen, as well as Island Honda of Maui.
Lithia trades as LAD on the New York Stock Exchange, and the Honolulu dealerships will add an estimated $75 million in annual revenue, according to a company statement.
Bryan DeBoer, president and chief executive officer of Lithia, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Thursday that Lithia will maintain the isle dealerships’ long-standing brands and employee rosters.
"We will stay part of the local community and not modify" the signage or branding, he said.
However, a call to the Honolulu Buick GMC Cadillac dealership Thursday was answered using the "Lithia" brand name.
"Five or 10 years ago it was not so much that way," he said, but now, "we hire the local people to jell with our customers and better try to provide uninterrupted service," he said.
Lithia had been looking "for years" to establish a presence in Hawaii, DeBoer said.
First Wind to test new battery technology
A new battery technology that uses liquid metal to store power will be tested next year at one of First Wind’s wind energy projects in Hawaii, a company spokesman said Friday.
The liquid-metal batteries are being developed by Ambri Inc., a Boston-area startup founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers. The company is working to turn its battery concept into a commercially viable product that will store power for less than $500 a kilowatt-hour, an amount that’s less than a third of the cost of some current battery technologies.
"First Wind is supporting Ambri’s battery efforts, and we hope to work with them on a modest demonstration project in Hawaii," said John Lamontagne, First Wind spokesman. "To date we haven’t determined where or which project, and we still have to formalize an agreement with them."
First Wind operates three wind-energy projects in Hawaii: two on Oahu’s North Shore and one above Maalaea on Maui.
Battery storage helps compensate for the intermittent nature of wind and solar energy. Batteries can store wind energy generated at night and then feed it into the grid during the day. With solar energy the batteries can store energy generated during the day for use during Hawaiian Electric’s peak demand period between 5 and 9 p.m.
Consumer borrowing up $13.7B in January
WASHINGTON » Consumers increased their borrowing in January on autos and student loans but cut back on their credit card use. Consumer borrowing rose $13.7 billion in January following an even larger $15.9 billion rise in December, the Federal Reserve reported Friday.
The category that includes auto and student loans increased $13.9 billion, while the category that covers credit cards fell $226 million, marking the third time in the past five months that credit card loans have declined.
The big overall increase pushed total borrowing to a record $3.11 trillion. Gains in borrowing are seen as an encouraging sign that people are more confident and willing to take on debt to finance consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of economic activity.
Euro highest versus dollar since 2011
LONDON » The euro has struck its highest level against the dollar in nearly 2 1/2 years in the wake of the European Central Bank’s decision not to cut interest rates further. At one point Friday the currency, which is used by 18 European Union countries, rose to $1.3917, its highest rate since it touched $1.4170 in October 2011.
Analysts think the euro is on course to climb further over the coming days, largely as a result of Thursday’s decision by the ECB to not cut interest rates following a run of relatively upbeat economic data across the eurozone.
IN THE NEWS
Hawaiian Air passenger traffic flat
Hawaiian Airlines’ passenger traffic in February was flat compared with the same period a year ago.
The state’s largest carrier said Friday it transported 750,889 passengers last month, just 202 fewer than the 751,091 people it carried during February 2013.
ON THE MOVE
Nobu Corp. has announced three new executive team members for its restaurant:
>> Yuka Hinoda Raso as general manager. She was previously an assistant general manager of Nobu Dallas.
>> Matt Raso as executive chef. He was previously the sous-chef and executive chef for Nobu Dallas.
>> Yoshio Ono as head sushi chef. In 2007, Ono’s sushi mastery led him to Nobu Waikiki.
Hawaiian filled 79.8 percent of its seats, down 1.2 percentage points from 81 percent in the year-earlier period.
Revenue passenger miles, or one paying passenger transported one mile, edged up 0.8 percent to 1 million from 992,093. Available seat miles, or one seat transported one mile, increased 2.4 percent to 1.25 million from 1.22 million.
