The Obama administration has declared the wildly popular 'Cash for Clunkers' program a success, saying it has revived the country's ailing auto industry and taken polluting vehicles off the road.
But the data shows that the program, which ends Monday, has apparently benefited foreign automakers more than their U.S. counterparts.
Smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles like the Toyota Corolla are top sellers, while buyers are trading in SUV's like the Ford Explorer to be scrapped, turning the already dwindling number of American car owners into the growing ranks of foreign car drivers.
Toyota vehicles accounted for 19.2 percent of the 489,269 sales, while General Motors had the second spot at 17.7 percent.
Of course, this also means fewer American cars in the used car market since clunker trade-ins must be destroyed, and that means less demand for American repair parts.
Hope. Change.
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3 comments:
Oh Joyous!!!! More money for the foreign car manufacturers, and less money for goods made here in the U.S.A. It's no wonder America is going down the tubes with everyone buying stuff and junk made in other countries. We have no one to blame but our own greed of the dollar, what can we buy for less? I've noticed in the past few weeks many, many new KIA cars in my community and most of these people are losing their homes due to high loan payments.
And after reading about the lack of and end of "Cash For Clunkers", now I have one, courtesy of a fanny lift by a Honda.
Not only did cash for clunkers not benefit American car makers, it did not benefit used car dealers, auto repair shops, auto parts stores and car donation charities.
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