The “Cash for Clunkers” program has helped Japanese carmakers more than it has U. S. carmakers:
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.
The Honda Civic was the second best-selling vehicle, followed by the Ford Focus in the third spot. Foreign cars occupied eight of the 10 spots on top-selling vehicle list. The Ford Explorer was the most traded-in vehicle under the program, with U.S. cars occupying all top 10 spots on the list.
Jonas Max-Ferris, a business analyst, told FOX News that domestic automakers did well because “they sold more cars than they would have without the program.”
“But they didn’t do as well as foreign car makers,” he said, noting that Detroit’s Big Three represent about 47 percent of U.S. car sales and only sold an estimated 42 percent under the program.
What isn’t mentioned in this article is that the models sold under the C4C program favor foreign carmakers, too. For example, I don’t know for sure where Ford Focus engines are made but I do know that they’re a joint venture between Mazda and Ford. I wouldn’t be surprised if the models being sold under C4C have Japanese and Korean engines under the hood.
