The 10 best-selling cars of April 2012

By Channtal Fleischfresser

Sales slowed for the top U.S. automakers last month, as six of the 10 best-selling models went to Japanese automakers Toyota and Honda. Left Lane News points out that the only domestic models to make it into the top 10 were the Chevrolet Malibu and the Ford Fusion.

Kicking Tires blames the slower turnout on a narrower incentive gap, as rising prices brought up transaction prices for new cars, as well as the fact that since April spanned five weekends this year, buyers had three fewer days to shop for cars  than the same month last year.

Here were the top 10 best sellers for April:

1. Ford F-Series (47,453 units)

2. Toyota Camry (36,820 units)

3. Honda Accord (35,385 units)

4. Chevrolet Silverado (30,749 units)

5. Toyota Prius (25,168 units - includes Prius c and Prius v)

6. Toyota Corolla (24,804 units - includes Matrix)

7. Honda Civic (24,423 units)

8. Honda CR-V (23,627 units)

9. Chevrolet Malibu (21,906 units)

10. Ford Fusion (21,610 units)

Notably, in other news from April’s U.S. sales reports, the Volkswagen Jetta was the top-selling European car at 16,659 units, and the Chevrolet Volt sold significantly more (1,462) than the Nissan Leaf (370).

Rounding out the top 15 best-selling cars for the month were the Ram pickup (21, 126), the Hyundai Sonata (20,521), the Ford Focus (19,425), the Chevrolet Equinox (18,282), and the Chevrolet Cruze (18,205).

Photos: Ford, Toyota, Honda, General Motors

via: [Left Lane News, Kicking Tires]

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iPhones streamline Amtrak’s ticketing process

By Channtal Fleischfresser

Sometimes it seems like the actual ‘phone’ part of the iPhone is just an afterthought. These days, the Apple smartphones double as cash registers, movie screens, GPS systems, sleep sensors… you get the idea.

Now, iPhones are helping to streamline an industry that has up until now resisted the forward march of technology. Amtrak has been training its railroad conductors to use the gadgets to scan boarding passes. While for the time being this has only been implemented on a few of the company’s routes, the plan is to roll out the practice with 1,700 train conductors on routes around the country by the end of the summer.

The main advantage to this system is that passengers no longer need to obtain actual boarding passes. A simple printout - or even a bar code on a smartphone screen - will suffice.

Aside from scanning barcodes, the new system will allow conductors to know in real-time if passengers don’t show up for a given train, so they may give others a seat, for instance. Conductors can also use the gadgets to coordinate wheelchair lifts for disabled passengers boarding at a particular stop, or to report problems with equipment.

For passengers, aside from the convenience of sidestepping the printed boarding pass, they will be able to more easily make or change reservations via Amtrak’s iPhone app (rather than getting a refund and booking a new ticket).

The Amtrak application - which cost the company $7.5 million to develop - is available only for iPhone at the moment, but an Android version is expected to be released later this year.

Photo: Amtrak via Apple Store

via [The New York Times]

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