*Color Trends. According to PPG Industries, the leading producer of transportation coatings, the most popular automotive colors by percentage in North America for 2001 are now the following:

*According to J.D. Power and Associates, luxury cars, SUV’s and compact cars continue to experience strong sales in 2002, showing the greatest gains over last year. Midsize and sports cars have struggled all year. The Big Three sales continues to lag behind those of foreign automakers in May of ’02. With retail sales softening some, actual units sold are expected to reach 1.577 million.

*General Motors Corp. has begun using methane gas collected at a landfill eight miles away from their Ft. Wayne Assembly Plant as a power supply. The project reduces the total emissions into the environment, as well as dependence on natural gas. It also reduces General Motors’ costs, thereby strengthening their economic position, according to Joe Bibeau, GM’s group director of utility services. Decomposing garbage creates methane, a greenhouse gas believed to contribute to global warming. Landfills use to release the gas into the air, but the federal government now requires landfills to dispose of it. It’s estimated that the project will have the same effect in one year as planting 63,000 acres of forest or of saving nearly 500,000 barrels of oil a year.

*According to a study completed by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and University of North Carolina Safety Research Center, 284,000 distracted drivers are involved in serious crashes each year.