user: Input: Breaking the Mold
For the latest in our series of artist-designed T’s, the renowned creative director Fabien Baron — currently the editorial director of Interview magazine and the head of his own agency, Baron & Baron — reimagined the T as a shattered mold lying in rubble. He used a 3-D printer to render the letter in powder and glue, and then took a hammer to his creation. What you see is a black-and-white photograph of the aftermath. “I saw what everybody was doing and I wanted to do something different,” says Baron (who is currently doing something very different and very beautiful on Instagram; follow him @FabienBaron). “I wanted to do a picture because I felt like what would be expected of me would be type.”
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It's about: Tthe renowned creative director Fabien Baron reimagined the T as a shattered mold lying in rubble.


Input: In a Surprise, Car Sales Start New Year Strongly
DETROIT — New-vehicle sales in the United States were unexpectedly strong in January, an early sign that the auto industry could have its best year since 2007, carmakers and analysts said Wednesday.

Sales increased 11.4 percent from January 2011, according to the research firm Autodata. The industry’s annual selling rate, an important measure of its health, climbed to 14.18 million, the highest in more than two years.

The Chrysler Group beat forecasts with a 44 percent increase in monthly sales, and Honda posted its first year-over-year gain since it began struggling with inventory shortages after last year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Honda’s sales were up 8.8 percent.

Toyota, Ford Motor and Nissan each reported modest increases, while Hyundai and Kia set January records. Volkswagen reported a 39.5 percent gain, its best January since 1974.

In contrast, General Motors said sales were down 6.1 percent from January 2011, when sales were inflated by big discounts offered after the company’s public stock sale. Sales of G.M.’s plug-in hybrid, the Chevrolet Volt, also fell from December after a government investigation into the potential for its battery to catch fire after a crash received widespread publicity.

Small cars were among the biggest factors driving the increase. Car sales rose 19.9 percent, while truck sales increased 3.7 percent.

“This is healthy, this is good. It’s sustainable,” said Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends and insight at the automotive research Web site TrueCar.com. “It’s going to be another year of recovery where we have a very good chance of getting to that magic 14 million number.”

Annual sales have been below 14 million for each of the last four years, falling to as low as 10.4 million in 2009. Hitting 14 million this year would represent at least a 9 percent increase from the 12.8 million sold in 2011.

January was the first month in which the seasonally adjusted, annualized selling rate surpassed 14 million since August 2009, when the government’s cash-for-clunkers program briefly bolstered demand. Excluding that spike, January’s rate was the highest since May 2008.

“We’re bullish on where the industry’s going,” said Robert S. Carter, Toyota’s top sales executive in the United States. “For the month of January to come in at this level is reason for continued optimism.”

Honda and Toyota reported big rebounds for some of their models in January, after having difficulty meeting demand for much of 2011. Sales of the Toyota Camry, a midsize sedan that was redesigned several months ago, rose 56 percent. The industry’s top-selling compact car was the revamped Honda Civic, which posted a 50 percent increase.

Jessica Caldwell, senior analyst with the Web site Edmunds.com, said sales would be increased for a few more months by shoppers who had put off trying to buy a new car or truck last year, when scarce supplies caused prices of some popular models to rise.

“This is a solid start to 2012, especially when there were so many fewer ‘buy’ messages in January compared to December’s heavy holiday sales push,” Ms. Caldwell said.

Rising auto sales in general are a positive contributor to the economy, but the gains for pickup trucks in particular may indicate long-awaited improvement in the housing market. Sales of full-size pickups rose 47 percent at Chrysler and 8 percent at Ford.

“There might be some truth to the view that housing is starting to turn,” Peter Nesvold, an analyst with Jefferies & Company, wrote in a note to clients this week. “We estimate that roughly 30 percent to 40 percent of pickup truck sales are into the contractor or construction markets. This makes pickup sales a good below-the-radar indicator for construction and/or housing trends.”

G.M. sold just 603 Volts in January, down from 1,529 in December. Don Johnson, G.M.’s vice president of United States sales operations, said demand was “clearly impacted” by news that federal safety regulators were investigating the car after three Volt battery packs caught fire after crash simulations.

G.M. has said it will modify the battery pack but is not recalling the car. The regulators closed their investigation on Jan. 20, concluding that the car was not defective, but “exaggerated negative coverage” of the investigation hurt sales, Mr. Johnson said in a conference call Wednesday. A House subcommittee conducted a hearing on the issue last week during which several Republican members of Congress criticized the car.

“Now that the dust has settled, we’re going to get back on track,” Mr. Johnson said.

He said G.M. hoped to attract more buyers with a low-emissions package that would allow the Volt to travel in high-occupancy vehicle lanes in California, an attribute that helped the popularity of models like the Toyota Prius in that state.
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assistant: Chrysler and Ford were among several auto companies that reported healthy increases for January, but General Motors posted a 6 percent decrease from a year ago.