• November 1, 2012

When hurricane Katrina had catastrophic effects on New Orleans in 2005 every automaker contributed, as well as major retail chains. Companies are doing the same with Sandy. General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, Nissan, Toyota are helping in relief efforts for the hurricane.

General Motors - Chevrolet on Wednesday donated 50 Silverado full-size pickup trucks and Express cargo vans to the American Red Cross for use in relief and recovery efforts on the Eastern seaboard and nearby states.
GM’s OnStar subsidiary is providing each of the donated vehicles with 300 OnStar Hands-Free Calling minutes of hands-free cellular and three months of its Directions and Connections plan. The trucks are being pulled from existing inventory at dealerships closest to where they are needed.

The GM Foundation earlier donated $250,000 to the Red Cross Disaster Responder Program to help with shelter, and assistance to disaster victims. The money also helps feed emergency workers, handle inquiries from concerned family members outside the disaster area, provide blood and blood products and help disaster victims access other available resources.

Ford - Ford employees and Ford Motor Company Fund are donating $50,000 to the American Red Cross and its chapters to assist with disaster relief, part of Ford’s long-term involvement in the 2012 Red Cross Disaster Responder Program. 
Toyota - Toyota will contribute $1 million to the American Red Cross and other nonprofit organizations to support relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Sandy in the regions worst-hit by the storm. Toyota will also match employee contributions to the American Red Cross and other non-profits doing relief and recovery work in affected communities.

Starting on Thursday, Toyota Financial Services (TFS) and Lexus Financial Services (LFS) launched a “Customer Outreach” calling campaign to lease and retail customers who are delinquent, or become delinquent, due to circumstances related to the storm and who reside in the 13 states directly impacted by the hurricane. Relief includes extensions and lease deferred payments; redirecting billing statements; and arranging phone or on-line payments.

Volkswagen: The Volkswagen of America Foundation, on behalf of the Volkswagen Group of America, announced today that it will make an immediate donation of $500,000 to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Sandy  relief to provide support for affected areas across the northeast. The donation will be directed toward shelter, food, recovery and other assistance to families affected by the storm. Additionally, Volkswagen will provide matching funds to any employee donations made to the American Red Cross or the organization of their choosing. Nissan North America - The automaker, which has over 225 dealers in the affected areas, will offer employee pricing and discounted financing on Nissan and Infiniti vehicles to eligible individuals in FEMA-designated disaster and emergency areas who need to replace vehicles lost to Hurricane Sandy.

Customers may work with area dealers to apply this offer, which is effective Nov. 1, 2012, through Jan. 2, 2013. More information can be found by following a special "disaster relief" link at www.InsideNissan.com that should be posted by Friday. Any additional incentives on vehicles are stackable on top of the Nissan employee discounts.

Mercedes-Benz - The luxury automaker, whose U.S. office is in Montvale, NJ, and which has a lot of operations in areas hard-hit by the storm, is donating $1 million to the Red Cross' efforts.