Still most popular are Ford pickups
Auto sales
months of this year. Part of the November increase was due to consumers replacing aging cars or vehicles damaged by Hurricane Sandy, industry experts said.
For consumers in Austin, Ford pickups continued to be the most popular vehicle in November, with 878 sold, according to the Freeman Auto Report.
That compares with 1,154 Ford pickups sold in October, 917 sold in September and 861 in August, according to the report.
Following Ford pickups in popularity were: Chevrolet passenger cars, with 668 sold in November; Honda cars, with 622 sold; Toyota cars, with 582 sold; and Chevrolet trucks, with 495 sold. of 2012, compared with 17.7 percent in the same three months a year ago.
The meeting of eurozone finance ministers came just hours after an all-night finance ministers from all 27 countries in the European Union, which includes non-euro countries such as Britain and Poland, ended.
They agreed to create a single supervisor for banks, a key component of what many hope will eventually become a fullyfledged banking union — a single rulebook for all banks and coordinated plans for helping lenders in trouble.
“Piece by piece, brick by brick, the banking union will be built on this first fundamental step today,” said Michel Barnier, the EU Commissioner responsible for the monitoring of financial markets.
The agreement, which still has to be approved by the European Parliament, will make the European Central Bank the supervisor for banks in the eurozone and any other country in the EU that wants to opt in.
Britain, for one, has said it has no intention of joining for fear of losing its ability to control what is Europe’s biggest banking sector.
Only banks with assets over $39 billion or those that represent 20 percent of their national economies will be placed under the direct oversight of the ECB, which can also supervise any other bank it wants within those countries that have agreed to be come under its orbit.
It’s a major evolution in the ECB’s role, whose main job up to now has been to set interest rates for the eurozone.
The deal gives it broad new powers, including the ability to grant and withdraw banking licenses, investigate institutions, and financially sanction banks that don’t follow the rules.
One of the key outcomes of the deal will be to pave the way for Europe’s bailout fund to give direct aid to ailing banks — a measure that’s considered vital to helping Europe dig its way out of its 3-year-old debt crisis.
“We stick to what we promised,” said German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. “Painstakingly, we advance the cause of Europe.”
Later Thursday, EU heads of state and government were to gather for a summit on building a closer financial and political union, meant to avoid future financial crises.