Mad Money
A look back at the quirky financial news of 2004.
By Jane Bennett Clark, Senior Associate Editor
From Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, December 2004
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Personal submersible
Curb weight: 4.2 tons | Length: 14.8 feet
Seats: 3 | Maximum speed: 7 knots
MSRP: $900,000
Forget the Cadillac Esplanade. What you really want in your driveway is a sporty little submarine. And soon, for close to a million dollars, you can have it.
The canary-yellow mini sub -- dubbed the Aquarius by Subeo, its manufacturer -- dives to about 330 feet and uses sealed nickel-sodium batteries to power the engine. A life-support system can keep you cruising for up to 74 hours, although a more comfortable mission time is about two hours.
Subeo plans to get the sub in production by early next year and has already begun discussions with prospective buyers. Says company director Robert Leeds of the client base: "We're generally talking to rich people."
Ho-hum Hummer
Once hailed as the sport ute on steroids, the Hummer 2 is running low on gas. According to industry analyst J.D. Power & Associates, sales fell almost 23% in the first seven months of 2004. And unlike the days when the $52,000 SUV claimed a two-year waiting list, production was reduced by 1,000 vehicles in 2004.
Why the downshift from hot to ho-hum? As with most trends, the Hummer's cachet with devotees of cool subsided after the initial rush. "That part of the market is probably satisfied," says analyst Tom Libby, of Power Information Network, a J.D. Power affliate. But, he says, some people are simply holding out for the smaller Hummer H3. That model, priced at a relatively modest $30,000, is due out next year. Says Libby: "It's not as in your face as the HT2."
Diet cheats? We're shocked!
Investors who have just woken up to the low-carb craze might want to punch the pillow and go back to sleep until the market shakes out. Although sales for the billion-dollar industry were still strong heading into July, according to ACNielsen, the growth rate had slowed dramatically, from 122% to 28% over the previous 13 weeks.
Maybe that's because many self-described carb starvers have been fudging the truth. A survey of 11,000 people conducted by the NPD Group found that only one in four dieters had markedly changed his or her eating habits, and that "virtually none" had cut carbs to the degree most low-carb diets recommend.
