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New Jersey Notebook: Japanese cars kings on US roads
Mazda, Honda and Toyota, all Japanese cars, are very popular in the US.
What you need to know:
- Subaru, so popular in Kenya, clearly does not seem to enjoy the same level of popularity in the US.
- While some host cities are experiencing a surge in demand for accommodation, others have seen little change.
In New Jersey
Now you can see why President Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ call strikes a chord with so many proud Americans. America has been an industrial powerhouse and a centre of innovation for most of the last century, as well as the present one.
General Motors, a pioneer in car manufacturing with well-known brands such as Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Buick, is an American company. However, Japanese cars dominate the roads here. Mazda, Honda and Toyota are easily the most popular brands, as you will see from how often you see their cars on the roads.
German cars such as BMWs and Volkswagens are also common. Subaru, so popular in Kenya, clearly does not seem to enjoy the same level of popularity in the US.
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Sophisticated disaster warning system in New York, New Jersey
On Monday, New York and New Jersey experienced heavy rain and thunderstorms all day. But kudos to the state authorities for providing regular updates on the storm and any breaking disasters.
As long as you had a functioning mobile phone with a local number, you would receive regular messages telling you to seek shelter or watch out for flash floods depending on your location.
‘NYNJ Stadium from the New Jersey Police: For your safety, due to severe weather in the area, seek shelter or continue to your mode of transportation’, read one such message that flashed up on my mobile phone screen. By then, I was soaked to the bone.
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Dallas and Kansas City room bookings up, not so for New York
While some host cities are experiencing a surge in demand for accommodation, others have seen little change. According to data from AirDNA, an analytics platform focused on the short-term rental market, cities such as Dallas have experienced a spike in matchday demand for bookings on sites such as Airbnb and Vrbo compared with last year’s baseline. However, others, notably New York, have seen little change. Businesses have noted that last-minute bookings have become commonplace during the World Cup.
Kansas City, which is hosting a total of four group-stage games as well as two knockout matches, has seen the biggest surge in short-term rentals, with an average increase of 49 per cent compared to the same period last year. On June 16, when Argentina played Algeria, bookings increased by 83 per cent.
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