Watching And Waiting

摘要

At a car show in Charlotte, North Carolina, a young man sneered at a subcompact Chevrolet Aveo. "You ain't gonna catch a man driving that," he observed to his girlfriend. Perhaps not, but that view is becoming less popular. This year's "auto expos" are all about thrift and prudence, and the Charlotte show was no exception. Sports-utility vehicles sat sealed and silent. An elderly couple clambered into a hybrid sedan. A sceptical crowd circled the Ford Airstream, a concept car in groovy chrome and fluorescent orange. A child wondered if it could fly. No one was itching to buy it; they thought it was too ugly. But then few people were looking to buy any cars this year.rnIt has been a turbulent autumn for Charlotte, North Carolina's largest city and America's second-biggest banking centre after New York. Until last month the city's economy was anchored by Bank of America, on one side of Trade Street, and Wachovia, on the other. In September Bank of America swallowed up Merrill Lynch and is still trying to digest it. Wachovia contemplated buying Morgan Stanley, but its fortunes changed abruptly. In October, facing its own cash crunch and having nearly been sold to Citigroup, Wachovia itself was taken over by Wells Fargo.