“KB Toys founder auctioning off collection in US - Newsday” plus 4 more

KB Toys founder auctioning off collection in US - Newsday
Fisker Receives $528.7 Million Gov't Loan - WPXI
Dave Sinclair, St. Louis automotive dealer, dies - News-Democrat
NewProductHelp.com Enthused About Opportunity to Represent New ... - PR.com
Mutual funds roar back into big gains - Poughkeepsie Journal

KB Toys founder auctioning off collection in US - Newsday

Posted: 25 Sep 2009 08:46 PM PDT

September 25, 2009 By The Associated Press

VINELAND, New Jersey (AP) — One of the greatest automotive toy collections in the world is being auctioned off in New Jersey.

KB Toy founder Donald Kaufman is selling thousands of the toys he's collected over the last half-century. The cache includes cars, buses, airplanes, motorcycles and fire engines dating from the early 1900s to the 1960s. Some are in their original boxes.

The toys will be sold Friday and Saturday at Bertoia Auctions in Vineland, The Press of Atlantic City reported.

The first half of the collection was sold in March. It netted more than $4 million in bids from toy collectors who flew in from around the world.

The 78-year-old Kaufman says he's selling his toys because his daughters aren't interested in inheriting them.

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Fisker Receives $528.7 Million Gov't Loan - WPXI

Posted: 23 Sep 2009 07:27 AM PDT

Fisker To Develop 2 New Plug-In Hybrids

Posted: 2:59 pm EDT September 22, 2009Updated: 10:33 am EDT September 24, 2009

WASHINGTON -- Fisker Automotive, a California manufacturer of luxury electric vehicles, will receive more than $500 million in federal loans to develop a plug-in hybrid sports car with a sticker price of nearly $90,000 and a new plug-in hybrid vehicle to be built in the United States.

The Energy Department said Tuesday it would lend $528.7 million to Fisker from a $25 billion fund to develop fuel-efficient vehicles, making the Irvine, California, startup the fourth automaker to receive loans from the program. The government awarded $8 billion in loans to Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and Tesla Motors Inc. in June to develop environmentally friendly cars.

"This investment will create thousands of new American jobs and is another critical step in making sure we are positioned to compete for the clean energy jobs of the future," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. He estimated it would save or create about 5,000 jobs.

Fisker, launched in 2007, is expected to release its first vehicle, the Karma, in the summer of 2010. The $87,900 plug-in luxury sports sedan, which has solar panels on the roof and allows motorists to drive gas-free for 50 miles (80 kilometers), will be built in Finland by Valmet Automotive.

Fisker will use $169.3 million in loans for engineering costs to complete the Karma and design tools and equipment at Fisker's office in Pontiac, Michigan. The Energy Department said that while the assembly of the Karma will be done overseas, more than 65 percent of the parts will come from U.S. suppliers.

The remaining $359.36 million in loans will be directed to Fisker's Project Nina, an effort by the automaker to develop a lower-cost, higher-volume plug-in hybrid car by late 2012. Fisker has said the next-generation plug-in will sell for $39,900 and be built in the United States with an annual production of about 100,000 vehicles.

"This conditional loan represents a significant step in America's future," said Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker, a former designer with BMW AG and Aston Martin. "With it Fisker Automotive can rapidly develop affordable clean cars that satisfy our passion for driving and help restore the U.S. as an auto industry leader."

Fisker has raised tens of millions of dollars from top venture capital firms such as Palo Alto Investors and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, of which former Vice President Al Gore is a partner. The company has pre-sold more than 1,500 Karmas and recruited a network of 45 dealers.

The company has promoted the Karma as an example of green mobility. The vehicle's average fuel economy can exceed 100 miles per gallon (42.5 kilometers per liter) and company officials say the Karma could use as little as one tank of gas per year if driven fewer than 50 miles (80 kilometers) per day and fully charged overnight.

Fisker said in an interview the automaker was searching for an assembly plant that it could retool for Project Nina. He expects to make an announcement on a location by the end of 2009.

"We are here to build, eventually, a very large company and you need a lot of capital for that," Fisker said. "So this was the right loan at the right time."

Additional Resources:

Fisker Automotive

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Dave Sinclair, St. Louis automotive dealer, dies - News-Democrat

Posted: 25 Sep 2009 10:27 PM PDT

St. Louis auto dealer Dave Sinclair died Friday at age 81 of cancer.

Sinclair had four auto dealerships and touted American brands. He was known for the one-liner he delivered in television commercials: "If it's not right, we'll make it right."

Visitation will be from 2 to 9 p.m. Sunday at Kutis Funeral Home, 5255 Lemay Ferry Road in St. Louis. The funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Monday at the St. Louis Cathedral Basillica, 4431 Lindell Boulevard.

All four dealerships will be closed Monday in Sinclair's memory.

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NewProductHelp.com Enthused About Opportunity to Represent New ... - PR.com

Posted: 26 Sep 2009 12:00 AM PDT

Miami, FL, September 26, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Tom C., a California resident and inventor, has contracted South Florida invention assistance leader NewProductHelp.com to represent his Add A Vent concept to industry. A simple yet effective new product sure to appeal to anyone who's endured a ride in the back seat of a hot vehicle, the Add A Vent , boasts a unique design that provides passengers in a vehicle with unprecedented comfort and access to air conditioning while in the back seat.

The Add A Vent will be cost-effective to purchase, easy to implement in any make or model of car, and eliminate the stress and discomfort of stifling heat. With its wide array of redeeming qualities, the Add A Vent should have no trouble finding success through outlets and catalogs selling air conditioning products.

This original idea is now being made available for licensing to manufacturers interested in new product development, especially in the air conditioning products industry. Tom C. is hoping to have the Add A Vent in full production and available to the public within the very near future.

Tom C.'s journey towards the attempted commercialization of his invention began when he opted to contact Miami, Florida-based NewProductHelp.com recently to explore the possibility of having the invention assistance company further research and document his concept, as well as facilitate the presentation of information and materials about it to potentially relevant manufacturers in industry, with the ultimate goal being to secure a licensing agreement.

NewProductHelp.com assists inventors who are seeking to bring their inventions to the consumer market via established third party manufacturers and marketers by providing them expertise designed to guide them from the earliest stages of invention development to the point where there are professionally produced promotional materials regarding the concept. New Product Help.com's New Product Publicity and Marketing Program is designed and targeted to provide maximum exposure through promotional materials such as press releases, product brochures, digital renditions, a password-protected website, and other visual mediums such as a New Product DVD and potentially, an interactive virtual reality presentation.

NewProductHelp.com will represent the Add A Vent invention for 2 years utilizing the aforementioned vehicles of exposure, as well as garnering additional leads for the concept through the participation of their industry partner Licensing Direct™ in industry-leading trade shows. Licensing Direct™, which serves as the exclusive licensing agent for NewProductHelp.com inventor clients, will follow up with any leads stemming from these trade show events and will also manage any advanced levels of interest displayed by manufacturers, marketers or distributors in the Add A Vent .

For more information on how you can get your idea to NewProductHelp.com, visit: www.newproducthelp.com

Contact: 1-877-445-0494

About NewProductHelp.com: NewProductHelp.com is a Miami, Florida-based invention assistance firm that represents independent inventors who typically lack the resources and experience to pursue the commercialization of their product concepts on their own. NewProductHelp.com utilizes dynamic promotional materials such as digital renditions, press releases, invention websites, and interactive virtual reality presentations, as well as representation at industry-leading trade shows, to achieve valuable exposure for the inventions it represents.

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Mutual funds roar back into big gains - Poughkeepsie Journal

Posted: 25 Sep 2009 11:53 PM PDT

Suddenly, the 100 percent club isn't so exclusive anymore.

An astonishing 426 stock mutual funds have soared 100 percent or more since the Standard & Poor's 500 index bottomed March 9. The average stock fund is up 65 percent.

The top-performing fund, Direxion Financial Bull 3X, has rocketed to a 560 percent gain, according to Lipper. The fund uses futures and options to gain 3 percent on days when the Russell financial services index gains 1 percent. The hottest fund that doesn't use leverage, Oceanstone, has gained 370 percent. The tiny $2.5 million fund made a big hit with Dollar Thrifty Automotive, up 1,919 percent the past six months, and Avis Budget Group, up 1,538 percent.

What makes the hot funds hot:

Lots of leverage. Many of the top performers, such as Direxion Financial Bull 3X, goose their returns through futures and options. The ride is great on the way up and bad on the way down. Its bear market equivalent, Direxion Financial Bear 3X, falls 3 percent on days when the Russell financial services index gains 1 percent. A $10,000 investment in the fund on March 9 would be worth $195 - a 98 percent loss. To get back even, you'd have to gain more than 5,000 percent.

Low, low prices. Some of the hottest funds took big hits in the bear market. Financial services funds, for example, have jumped an average 119 percent since the bull market started. But they fell 70 percent in the bear market. "It makes perfect sense," said Russel Kinnel, director of mutual-fund research at Morningstar, the Chicago investment trackers. "The best stuff was the stuff that was oversold the most."

Sector savvy. Fidelity Select Automotive has driven to a 244 percent gain. And the SPDR S&P Metals and Mining ETF uncovered a 129 percent gain.

International allure. Emerging markets have soared since the bull market started, and so have the funds that invest there. For example, the Market Vectors Indonesia index fund has leapt 171 percent.

The 100 percent club isn't limited to tiny funds. The $33.2 billion Dodge & Cox International stock fund, for example, has gained 102 percent. Other winners:

Fidelity Value, with $7.5 billion, up 105 percent.

Oakmark International, $3.8 billion, up 102 percent.

Vanguard REIT Index, $3.2 billion, up 112 percent.

The 100 percent club has its risks. The last time a large number of funds gained 100 percent or more in a year was 1999, during the dot-com bubble.