Sonari Glinton
Sonari Glinton is a NPR Business Desk Correspondent based at our NPR West bureau. He covers the auto industry, consumer goods, and consumer behavior, as well as marketing and advertising for NPR and Planet Money.
In this position, which he has held since late 2010, Glinton has tackled big stories including GM's road back to profitability and Toyota's continuing struggles. In addition, Glinton covered the 2012 presidential race, the Winter Olympics in Sochi, as well as the U.S. Senate and House for NPR.
Glinton came to NPR in August 2007 and worked as a producer for All Things Considered. Over the years Glinton has produced dozen of segments about the great American Song Book and pop culture for NPR's signature programs most notably the 50 Great Voices piece on Nat King Cole feature he produced for Robert Siegel.
Glinton began his public radio career as an intern at Member station WBEZ in Chicago. He worked his way through his public radio internships working for Chicago Jazz impresario Joe Segal, waiting tables and meeting legends such as Ray Brown, Oscar Brown Jr., Marian MacPartland, Ed Thigpen, Ernestine Andersen, and Betty Carter.
Glinton attended Boston University. A Sinatra fan since his mid-teens, Glinton's first forays into journalism were album revues and a college jazz show at Boston University's WTBU. In his spare time Glinton indulges his passions for baking, vinyl albums, and the evolution of the Billboard charts.
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Mexico has become a crucial manufacturing hub for all the major global automakers. Access to markets and duty-free exports are a big reason why.
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Major automakers at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit are betting big on self-driving vehicles. They all believe in a driver-less future, but they disagree on when it will arrive.
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Volkswagen announced Tuesday it is in advanced talks with the Justice Department on a settlement agreement to end a criminal probe into its diesel cheating scheme. The company said it would pay civil and criminal fines of $4.3 billion.
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The 2017 North American International Auto Show opened over the weekend in Detroit. A diverse lineup of new vehicles are vying for attention.
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In a surprise move, Ford said Tuesday it is scrapping plans to build a $1.6 billion small car assembly plant in Mexico after criticism from Donald Trump about its decision to build the plant.
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A lover of cars since he was a little tyke who later trained as a sculptor, Ed Welburn has shaped the physical world we live in as the longtime head of design for General Motors.
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The National Retail Federation says more consumers shopped online during the Thanksgiving weekend than in stores. A consultant says consumers have gotten far more comfortable shopping on their phones.
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Early indications are that Black Friday will be healthy for retailers, But analysts say the Black Friday fever has broken. Almost all the growth in holiday retail sales are in online and mobile shopping. One in six holiday dollars will be spent online giving consumers more bargaining power.
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Today is Black Friday and it used to be a big holiday shopping day. But times have changed — shoppers now turn out for "Great Thursday." And, more shoppers are going online to buy their gifts.
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Automakers sell more SUVs and trucks than cars. Lower gas prices and high profits make SUVs popular with consumers and carmakers. Brands such as Lamborghini and Jaguar are getting into the SUV game.