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...were down 37% in March from 2008, the latest in a nearly unbroken year-and-a-half streak of falling sales. And if the cratered economy is the main culprit behind backed-up inventory at U.S. car dealers, another is that American automakers have failed to produce the more fuel-efficient vehicles that gas-price-conscious car buyers are beginning to demand. As a result, the U.S. still sends hundreds of billions of dollars overseas for oil - and adds ever more greenhouse-gas pollution into the atmosphere...
...That depends. There are currently two main bills in the House and Senate, which, according to greens, are not created equal. One, sponsored by Democratic Ohio Representative Betty Sutton, allows any car from model year 2000 or earlier to be traded in, without any restriction on fuel economy. In return, car buyers will get $4,000 if they buy a new U.S. car that gets a minimum mileage of 27 m.p.g. and $5,000 if they buy a U.S. car with at least 30 m.p.g. Crucially, the new cars have to be made in the U.S. - foreign brands can qualify...
...clunkers means that even relatively efficient cars could be traded in, provided they're at least a decade old. And putting the minimum standard for new cars at 27 m.p.g. means that more than half the cars already in the U.S. fleet would qualify, since the existing federal fuel-efficiency standard is 27.5 m.p.g. for cars. Given that it takes a lot of energy to make a car, junking an old one in favor of a brand-new vehicle that is only marginally more efficient would barely produce any overall oil savings. "This bill would pay to get new cars...
...greens would be the other major cash-for-clunkers bill circulating in Congress, this one co-sponsored by Democratic Representative Steve Israel and Democratic Senators Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein. Their bill would allow the junking of any vehicle that's more than three years old, provided its fuel economy comes in at less than 18 m.p.g. Any new car would need to have a fuel economy at least 25% better than the clunker to qualify - and rebates would reach up to $4,000. (All auto brands would qualify, foreign or domestic.) A 25% improvement would be enough to make...
...would convince suddenly spendthrift U.S. consumers to buy a new car - especially the sort of customers who would own a clunker in the first place. "Either this program won't make them buy, or they're just poor," says Wolkonowicz. But a cash-for-clunkers deal with tough enough fuel standards would at least be a way to throw Detroit another lifeline without sinking the planet - even as Washington seeds longer-term demand for more-efficient vehicles. The key, like any used car contact, is to check the fine print...