Another northwest Indiana community is adding its pitch to try and lure the Chicago Bears, as northwest suburban Arlington Heights keeps the pressure on.
Leaders in Portage, Indiana, made a pitch for a new Bears stadium, "Halas Harbor," Wednesday.
The Bears have also explored a proposed site near Hammond, and Indiana lawmakers are moving full steam ahead before the end of their spring session in less than three weeks.
"That again for me shows how serious we are in Indiana, that we have a bill in place and structured about making sure those economic and financial things are taken care of," said Indiana state Rep. Earl Harris, who represents the state's 2nd District.
Supporters of the Bears' possible home in Arlington Heights plan to rally Wednesday evening
It's not just Indiana and Illinois towns getting involved.
A group of lawmakers in Iowa just filed legislation in the statehouse to try and lure the Bears west of the Mississippi River. They want to change state law to offer incentives to the Bears to build a future stadium in the Hawkeye State.
Sources tell ABC7 Chicago the Bears and legislative leaders have met weekly since December to discuss the state paying for infrastructure around the stadium while the team pays for the stadium itself.
The Suzuki Swift is the best-selling vehicle in the Netherlands in January.
The Dutch new car market retrogrades -13.1% year-on-year in January, an after-effect of artificially boosted December sales (amendment of BEV subsidies). HEVs hold 62% of the market thanks to 17,571 sales, BEVs are at 25.3% (7,165 sales), petrol at 11.8% (3,348), diesel at 0.9% (249) and LPG at less than 0.1% (14). Volkswagen (-15.4%) lodges a 4th consecutive monthly win at 8.4% share, albeit this is well below the 10.3% it held in December. Kia (-46.6%) is back up four spots on last month to #2 but craters year-on-year. It is followed by Hyundai (+6.3%) going against the grain with a positive result, BMW (-11.9%) up five ranks to #4 and Skoda (+18.4%) in excellent shape YoY but down from #2 in December. Citroen (+49.4%), Dacia (+33.2%) and Renault (+26.3%) also make themselves noticed below.
Model-wise, the ranking is now concentrated around small non BEV cars: the Suzuki Swift (+32.2%) is the new leader above the Hyundai i10 (+45.3%) and Toyota Aygo X (+16.3%). The Skoda Kodiaq (+4%) is up 34 spots on December to #4 wit the Hyundai Kona (+17%) rounding out the Top 5. Below, we find the Ford Kuga (+21.2%), Kia Sportage (+53.8%) and a freefalling VW Polo (-42%). Leaders over the Full Year 2025, the Skoda Elroq is down to #53 while the Kia EV3 (-82.1%) is down to #16 and the Tesla Model Y (-39.2%) is down to #22.
The Jaecoo 7 is the best-selling vehicle in Scotland in January.
Thanks to SMMT we can share with you detailed sales data by model for each UK nation. In an overall market up 3.4%, England gains 5.3% to 123,661 units and Wales is up 0.5% to 4,628 but Scotland drops -7.3% to 11,323 and Northern Ireland dives -11.3% to 4,296.
Podium finishers are as follows. The Kia Sportage is #1 in England, Northern Ireland and Wales and #2 in Scotland, the Jaecoo 7 #1 in Scotland, #2 in England and #4 in Wales, the Ford Puma #2 in Wales, #3 in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, the Nissan Juke #2 in Northern Ireland and the MG HS #3 in Wales, #4 in Scotland.
Other great performers include the Hyundai Tucson #5 in Northern Ireland, the BYD Seal U #6 in England and #10 in Scotland, the Omoda 5 #7 in Scotland, the VW T-Roc #7 in Northern Ireland, the BMW 1 Series #8 in Scotland, the Audi A3 #9 in England, the Peugeot 3008 #10 in England and the Volvo XC40 #10 in Northern Ireland.
The Jaecoo 7 is only outsold by the Kia Sportage in January.
The UK new car market is up 3.4% year-on-year in January to 144,127 units, this is the highest January volume in six years: since pre-pandemic January 2020. Encouragingly, private sales beat the market at +4.5% to 52,397, but remain at a low 36.4% share vs. 36% a year ago. Fleet sales edge up 1.6% to 88,269 and 61.2% share vs. 62.3% in January 2025. Meanwhile business sales are up 46.5% to 3,461. BEV registrations disappoint at +0.1% to 29,654 and 20.6% share vs. 21.3% last year, the lowest since March 2025. HEVs are up 4.8% to 19,297 and 13.4% vs. 13.2%, PHEVs surge 47.3% to 18,557 and 12.9% share vs. 9% but petrol is off -1.9% to 68,757 and 47.7% share vs. 50.3% and diesel down -8.8% to 7,862 and 5.5% share vs. 6.2%.
In the brands ranking, the three best-sellers disappoint with year-on-year drops. Volkswagen (-7.6%) remains by far the most popular carmaker in the country with 8.7% share, consistent with its FY2025 level of 8.8%. Kia (-7.7%), although down significantly, continues on its traditional strong start of years at #2, a ranking it last held in September. BMW (-12.6%) is in trouble but climbs back up to the podium. Audi (+17.1%), Ford (+13.6%, Skoda (+13.1%) and Mercedes (+6.7%) all post solid scores below, whereas Peugeot (-21.6%) and Nissan (-16.7%) struggle. Further down, Chinese fare Jaecoo (+569.9%) ascends to a record ranking (#15) and share (3.4%) and is only 200 sales below MG (-6.6%). Omoda (+211.3%), BYD (+149.1%) and Citroen (+97.5%) also impress. Tesla is down -50.8% to #33 and 0.5% share.
Looking at the models charts, the Kia Sportage (+34.5%) snaps the top spot for the 5th time in the past 13 months, another good start of the year for the crossover. The event of the month is the brilliant 2nd place of the Jaecoo 7, a new record for the nameplate reaching an all time high share at 2.8%. Its previous best was #4 last September. This the 6th consecutive month the Jaecoo 7 is inside the UK Top 10, confirming it is an instant (and surprising) blockbuster here. Leader for the past three years, the Ford Puma (+59.3%) drops to #3 but manages surging year-on-year volumes. The BYD Seal U is up to a record #6, a ranking it also held last September. Strong showing also by the VW Tiguan (+18.8%) and Nissan Juke (+8.5%).