Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 27

Lansing State Journal Sunday, April 14, 1991 ES250 nn IS' ThelUendmPunuuOfPiijectkm. to Ml per months 24 months with option tof" purchase or walk awayl'-s'f 24 mom ctoaad m3 Imm on ES 290. 2M par month pk tax, two. Rem Im and capital reduction cash or trad In Mock unit only. Cat tot oaurix.

Lexus Is Coming To Lansing To arrange for your exhilarating test drive of the ES 250 or LS 400 on The Opel plant will employ 2,600 workers, about half the number at the Wartburg facility, although the support industries that traditionally pop up around auto plants will create many more jobs. It is still undecided how many Wartburg workers will get jobs at the plant The shutdown of Wartburg is almost a textbook example of why so many of east Germany's enterprises are collapsing now that they are no longer state-run. Due to overstaffing and inefficiency, it cost the company 15,000 marks about $9,000 to make a car that only sells for 7,000 marks, or about $4,200. The company has lost $120 million since German unification six months ago. But all is not completely lost in this gritty car town of 50,000 in the hilly southwestern corner of the former nation and just 20 miles from the old West German border.

In February, on the outskirts of town, General Motors Corp began building the biggest plant of its profitable European subsidiary, Opel. Sometime next year, Opel will begin making subcompact Ka-detts, one of the hottest selling cars on the continent. For some, this transition is the way it should be for beleaguered eastern Germany a passing of the baton from one way of life to another. For others, the new plant will be a place where other people work. sprawling red-brick factory to watch the formal collapse of a company that cranked out cars under Hindenburg, Hitler and Honecker.

Founded in 1898, the company that once made sleek sports cars spent its final decades building clunky, utilitarian vehicles mandated by East Germany's Communist rulers. When Germany united, Wartburg found it not compete. About 4,700 people lost their jobs immediately. Another 1,300 workers will stay on for the time being, many of them building replacement parts for the tens of thousands of Wartburgs still plying the former nation's cobblestone streets. Tuesday, April 16 or Wednesday, April phone Dave Zaugh at 1-800-552-2339 HHRVEY LEXUS v.

Of GRHnD RHPIDSv 2550 28th St. S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan! Associated Press I EISENACH, Germany The name, the design and the engineering were all from another era, which is why the last Wartburg rolled off the assembly line last week. I The Wartburg a basic boxy two-door automobile painted a glistening cherry red chugged out of a plant building while eastern German workers sobbed in sorrow and disbelief. "My work, my work, that was my work!" shouted an almost hysterical young man. He rested his head against a steal beam and cried.

About 1,500 people crowded into the final assembly building at the Japanese traders look north AKES SENSE ST MONEY NOT I aaaaaaaaBaBBaaaBBaBBBNBBaaaaaaaaaaBaaaaaaaaaaBBBBBBajg 44 By ELAINE KURTENBACH Associated Press NIIGATA, Japan Japanese businessmen who trade with the Soviets view their vast neighbor to the north as one of the last frontiers of economic growth. Many in this northern port city already have found profitable niches shipping equipment and cars to the Soviet Union or invest-ing in fishery and tourism ventures. They say major opportunities will not exist until the two nations resolve a dispute over a few small islands lying between them. "There is one definite truth: The Soviet market is the greatest market left for Japan and neighboring countries," said Hidetoshi Kame-zaki of Mitsubishi deputy general manager of its Soviet and Eastern Europe team. Kamezaki and many other traders say they hope Mikhail Gorbachev's visit to Japan this week will fielp activate projects that have been stalled since the 1970s.

Gorbachev has been quoted favoring creation of an economic development zone around the Japan Sea, which is ringed by Japan, China, the Soviet Union and the Korean peninsula. 7 Businessmen and bureaucrats in Niigata and other Japan Sea ports share that goal. The Japanese have been eyeing the Soviet Far East's fish, forests, oil and other natural resources for decades. Plans to exploit oil and natural gas deposits on Sakhalin Island, initiated in the early 1970s, are stalled because the oil can be refined only far away in the western Soviet Union, an official at the C. Itoh and Co.

trading house said. Trade with the Soviet Union has remained at about 1 percent of Japan's total. In 1990, trade totaled $5.91 billion imports worth $3.35 billion and exports valued at $2.56 billion, according to government figures. Most of the trade is barter Soviet coal, timber, marine products and metals for chemicals, equipment and electric WWM pilMpPiiiiiiiiiiiiii Ipipllpiiiiiiliil llRiiHiiiBfcifciiHliiii wtomm IliiSiliiillHl ilipiiiliil The people who do business on Wall Street manage their money every -11 ATM card 24 hours a day at thousands of locations in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois and on nationwide ATM networks. Balances over $5,000 (after June 30) are invested daily at a rate day to get the So what Tom nignesi: return possiDie.

about those of us who happen on Main Street? to live and work Treasury Bill rate. Below our money market check- iSlBli tied to the 91-day $5,000 you earn ing rate. Contact the Cash Management Checking" There is account from From now until June 30, earn a very attractive bonus rate. First of America. iV Jkf your local banker for the most information.

Cash Management Checking Every day, it automatically invests your money for Flint-made lint roller in movies Associated Press FLINT It seems Helmac lint rollers are better recognized in Hollywood than in their hometown of Flint. In the movie "Accidental Tourist," William Hurt's character thought enough of a Helmac lint roller to include one in his suitcase when packing for a trip. "We tend to get a lot of exposure from Hollywood," said Helmac President Douglas Taekens. The otherwise low-profile Helmac Products Corp. is tucked away in a small industrial park on Flint's east side.

For nearly 36 years the company has gone about its business of assembling and packaging lint rollers. In the 1960s Helmac expanded nationally. By the middle of the decade, more than 30 copycat competitors had sprung up, but the McKays solidified their place in the market by investing in network TV and radio advertising. In 1971 the company moved to its current manufacturing plant in Flint. About the same time, K-Tel started marketing its Miracle Brush, from Japan, significantly cutting into Helmac's lint roller business.

Helmac employs about 75 people at its Flint plant, where employees assemble and package the brushes. Taekens declined to reveal the company's annual sales but said they're current rate If you open a An FDIC insured account, you to get a highly competitive return. Deposits over $5,000 are managed daily to earn you a higher return. at one of America's best- be eligible for discounts, cash account now, you'll Wi' Untune run, most stable banks. bonuses and special gifts with our Brokerage Service, Select Purchase' fml5" that earns a bonus rate of 7.25 I rr rrr 1 And, from now 30, 1991, it's an account percent APR on balances It takes $1,000 up to the lull extent as best-run, most stable Available onlv on credit card and Home Equity Line of credit.

Besides a great rate, convenient access and an FDIC insured account, you also get the advantage of big-time service from a local First of America banker. Srnn in and ask us about our Cash Management to open. And it's FDIC insured allowed by law, at one of the banks in America. Your money is accessible 24 hours a day, every day, at thousands of ATM Manage your money hke they do on waii lnoiviauai accounts, you can r- tipj locations. Checking.

For most of us, it makes sense. Not just money, nationwide. street, wiinoui write all the checks you leaving Main Street, want. And you can use your ONE OF THE MIDWESTS BIGGEST BANKS, BUT ONLY WHEN YOU WANT US TO BE For more information, call us at: 334-1600 Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.sJ.