article on u.s. car manufacturing

Here is an article from today's "The Australian" page 27.
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US AUTO INDUSTRY STEPS ON THE GAS

The US auto industry is starting to accelerate.

In January, US auto sales continued their upward surge, rising 11% over a year ago to their briskest pace in four years. At the same time, several automakers showed new confidence in the American economy by disclosing billion-dollar expansion of their US factories.

On the sales front, Chrysler Group and Volkswagen reported increases of more than 40% apiece from a year ago, and most others posted solid gains.

All told, automakers sold 913,287 cars and light trucks in January, according to Autodata.

The annualises sales pace in January was 14.18 million vehickles, up from December's rate of 13.5million

It was the highest level since May 2008, when the sales rate hit 14.28 million vehicles a year, and even surpassed the August 2009 pace, when consumers flocked to showrooms for cash-for-clunker rebates.

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This is a very good sign for the foundry industry as the auto sector is the biggest end-user of chromite and zircon foundry grade sand.

If car sales continues to head up, it should translate into sales for their Spherichrome product and continue to push sand prices up.

Pep