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Backseat Driver: Herb Chambers has charm and moxie

What's the opposite of painfully shy?
How about Herb Chambers.
Projo photograper Steve Szydlowski and I went to Chambers' local Cadillac dealership yesterday to interview New England's biggest auto dealer and the next thing we know we are floating over the city in his private helicopter on our way up to his new Lexus dealership in Sharon, Mass.
The dealership, which is scheduled to open June 1, is a $30 million extravanganza which Chambers himself calls "the craziest thing I've ever done."
Certainly it's on a scale that boggles the mind. Apart from the money, consider the sheer size - 110,000 square feet with a showroom with 50-foot windows that is capable of holding 40 cars. And behind that, 50 service bays immaculately laid out in a light, spacious hall.
Upstairs, the customer waiting area is equipped with a coffee bar, flat screen TVs, a fireplace and children's play area. The bathrooms look like they belong in a five-star hotel and even the staircase is extra wide to give the sense of space and luxury.
Chambers has clearly gone over the top with this building - but that is a relative term when talking about a man with 38 dealerships who is currently having a yacht built in Germany that will be 257 feet long and have a crew of 22.
Chambers is larger than life, and you can read my report and see Steve's photographs in the projoCars section of this Saturday's Providence Journal.

Posted by   at 11:17 AM to Companies | Permalink | Comments 1

More farmers planting corn for ethanol

Farmers in some of the most unlikely places are planting corn this year as demand for the grain to make ethanol has led to skyrocketing prices, sparking a corn rush throughout the USA, according to USA Today.
U.S. farmers are expected to plant the largest corn crop since World War II this year, switching acreage from soybeans, cotton, rice and other crops and planting on land that has been sitting idle for years. The move is in response to soaring demand for ethanol, commonly produced from corn in the USA.

Posted by   at 10:07 AM to Alternative fuels | Permalink | Comments 0

Oil prices jump on Nigerian woes

Oil prices rose Thursday after reports of more attacks on oil workers in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, raised worries about supplies, according to the Associated Press.
Gunmen kidnapped at least 19 people in less than 24 hours in three attacks - seizing people from a vessel managed by a subsidiary of Italian oil firm Eni SpA, from a South Korean company's power plant construction site and from a bar near an oil compound, officials and witnesses said. At least one police officer was injured.

Posted by   at 10:00 AM to Oil | Permalink | Comments 0

BMW profits down 38 percent in first quarter

BMW said Thursday its first-quarter profit dropped 38 percent as it spent more money on launching new models and because last year's figure included a one-time gain, according to the Associated Press.

Posted by   at 9:58 AM to Companies | Permalink | Comments 0

GM profits down 90 percent in first quarter

General Motors' first-quarter profit fell 90 percent compared with a year ago, according to the Associated Press.
The company cited losses in the home lending operations of its former financial arm.
It was the second consecutive quarterly profit for the nation's largest automaker, which said in Thursday's report it had record vehicle sales worldwide and improvements in its automotive operations in the latest quarter.
But the profit of $62 million, or 11 cents a share, for the January-March period was down from $602 million, or $1.06 per share, a year ago.

Posted by   at 9:55 AM to Companies | Permalink | Comments 0