Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 26, 1991                   TAG: 9103260078
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

NEW-CAR SALES PLUNGE 30 PERCENT

Auto dealers in Roanoke, Salem and Roanoke County sold only 375 new vehicles last month compared to 538 in February 1990.

The February figure also was down 37.9 percent from 604 vehicles sold in January.

Sales for the first two months of this year declined 12 percent compared to the same period in 1990.

Also this week:

Norfolk Southern Corp. reported loading 21,146 coal cars at its Pocahontas fields last week, a drop of 3.6 percent from the 21,933 cars loaded in a comparable week last year. Coal loadings rose 4.1 percent from the 20,305 cars reported for the prior week.

Roanoke Valley banks cleared against each other checks worth $152,670,816, down 39.9 percent from $254,062,376 during a comparable week last year but up 5.7 percent from the prior week's $144,361,631. The annual decline is due, at least in part, to transfer of business to the Richmond clearinghouse.

The nation's consumer price index stood at 134.8 points at the end of February compared to 134.6 for January and 128.0 for February a year ago. The annual inflation index increase was 5.3 percent. - Staff report