Business Briefs – October 19, 2017

Toyota Tops Consumer Reports’ Auto Reliability Rankings

DETROIT (AP) – Toyota is the top brand in Consumer Reports’ annual vehicle reliability rankings. Toyota Motor Co.’s luxury Lexus brand is second, followed by Kia, Audi and BMW.

Cadillac, GMC, Ram, Dodge and Volvo got the poorest reliability scores, dinged by buyers’ problems with their infotainment systems and transmissions.

Consumer Reports predicts reliability of 2018 vehicles based on a survey of its subscribers, who owned or leased 640,000 vehicles from the 2000-2017 model years.

Backers of Oil Terminal Pour Money Into Washington Port Race

SEATTLE (AP) – Developers of a proposed oil-by-rail terminal along the Columbia River that would be the nation’s largest have poured big money into a port commissioner race that may shape the project’s future. Filings with the Washington Public Disclosure Commission say the backers of the Vancouver Energy project have given $370,000 in cash to support Kris Greene, who has expressed support for the oil terminal proposed at the Port of Vancouver.

Verizon Shares Rise as it Adds Wireless Customers

NEW YORK (AP) – Verizon shares rose Thursday after the company’s results showed its wireless business doing a little better.

The largest U.S. wireless carrier said Thursday that it added 603,000 customers who pay a bill at the end of each month, more than Wall Street expected. They added more new smartphone customers than they did in the same July-September period a year ago. Verizon’s revenue from selling wireless service plans declined 5.1 percent from the year before, but that was a slightly shallower drop than it was in the summer quarter.

Its stock rose 56 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $49.21.

The New York company lost wireless customers who are billed each month, the most lucrative wireless customer, in the second quarter for the first time in its history. It has bounced back from that with the help of the unlimited plan it introduced in February, following other carriers’ focus on unlimited plans.

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