Word: clunker
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...even the most optimistic greens could have predicted that the federal government's cash-for-clunkers program would work this well - more than 240,000 Americans have traded in their clunkers so far, and the program has already burned through its first round of funding. But green groups were a bit wary of cash for clunkers at the outset, concerned that the legislation's requirements on fuel economy were too lax. Under the program, newly purchased passenger cars must have a minimum fuel-economy rating of 22 miles per gallon - hardly superefficient - and they need to be only 4 m.p.g...
Read "Germany's Auto-Woes Fix: Scrap That Clunker...
...July for the first time in months, at the expense of German and Japanese competitors. Ford emerged as one the program's biggest winners, posting a genuine sales increase for July over the same period last year; the automaker could also lay claim to the top vehicle purchased with clunker cash: the compact Ford Focus...
...Japanese automakers fared less well. Toyota reported that its sales tumbled 11% year over year in July, while Nissan's fell nearly 25% and Honda's fell 17%, despite the government incentive program. However, Jim Lentz, Toyota Motor Sales president, said the cash-for-clunkers program reduced the recessionary drag on sales and offered a nice dividend for the environment. "Clunker-related Toyota sales over the seven days alone will save customers an estimated 8 million gal. of gas and $20 million in gas spending over the next year," he said. (See the best cars from the 2009 Detroit Auto...
...everyone sees the program as a win-win. Economist David Rosenberg at Toronto investment firm Gluskin Sheff worries that today's sales boost could lead to tomorrow's sales slump. He likens the current cash-for-clunker boost to the 0% financing that automakers introduced in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. As a result of those incentives, motor-vehicle sales perked up and the economy got a nice boost. "But what all these gimmicks do is bring forward consumption - they don't create anything more than a brief spending splurge at the expense of future performance," Rosenberg...