Courtyard and Garden Inn are beloved and well-established midprice chains aimed at business travelers.

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The company also is scouting opportunities to roll out midprice hotels aimed at attracting China's ballooning middle class.

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She started Tibi to be a midprice alternative and says she understands what it takes to "pass muster" in the boardroom.

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But she points out that on Honda's more recently revamped CR-V compact utility vehicle, Bluetooth hands-free technology is available on the midprice LX model.

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The bulk of sales still comes from midprice products.

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Marimekko, the midprice Finnish home-furnishings brand whose Fifth Avenue New York flagship is filled with its cheerful pop-art prints, paved the way in the U.S. for high-end Scandinavian textiles, says Ms. Essner.

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General Motors, under pressure to create a midprice blockbuster sport utility with the look of a macho Hummer, relied on input from 481 people summoned to a building on an empty fairground in southern California in June 2001.

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