Cash For Clunkers Program To Be Extended

It appears that Senate Democrats have enough votes to win passage of the additional $2 billion dollars for the Cash For Clunkers program. The additional funds should take the program thru September.

The program appears to have motivated auto buyers into new car dealer showrooms. The Obama administration indicated that the program would end on August 7th without additional funding. The program appears to be a major success with increased sales and taken gas guzzlers off the road.

Here are the top ten cars purchased with the Cash for Clunkers program. The Ford Focus is shown above. The top ten cars sold are basically economy cars.

• 1. Ford Focus
• 2. Honda Civic
• 3. Toyota Corolla
• 4. Toyota Prius
• 5. Ford Escape
• 6. Toyota Camry
• 7. Dodge Caliber
• 8. Hyundai Elantra
• 9. Honda Fit
• 10. Chevrolet Cobalt

Listed below are the Cash For Clunkers trade-ins. The list is comprized of mainly SUV's and minivans.

• 1. 1998 Ford Explorer
• 2. 1997 Ford Explorer
• 3. 1996 Ford Explorer
• 4. 1999 Ford Explorer
• 5. Jeep Grand Cherokee
• 6. Jeep Cherokee
• 7. 1995 Ford Explorer
• 8. 1994 Ford Explorer
• 9. 1997 Ford Winstar
• 10. 1999 Dodge Caravan

SUMMARY:

This is definitely a good deal for consumers! Most of the cars listed above are economy cars, so if a consumer buys a vehicle that costs $15000. Then take the $3500 or $4500 a federal rebate....in addition to the discount on the vehicle plus any incentives from the manufacturer.

July Auto Sales

U.S. auto sales appear to be improving substantially in July. Overall auto sales for July were down only 12% percent, with June down 28% and May down 39%. So, it appears that the sales trend is improving substantially.

It appears that the U.S. based automakers and some foreign manufacturers are having a rebound in sales....helped by the Cash For Clunkers program. Meanwhile sales of luxury cars are still in the dumps. ales were the best they have been since the summer of 2008....with a annual run rate of over 10 million cars.

Ford is the sales winner with a 2% increase in sales over last year. GM sales were down 19%, meanwhile Chrysler sales were down only 9.4%. An interesting fact is that GM and Chrysler sales were not impacted by the bankruptcies as much as anticipated.

• Saab down 72%

• Porsche down 51%

• Mitsubishi down 50%

• Jaguar down 45%

• BMW down 32%

• Nissan down 25%
  

• Mercedes down 22%
  

• Mazda down 15%

• General Motors down 19%

• Honda down 17%

• Toyota down 11%

• Chrysler down 9%
  

• Volkswagen down 3%

• Ford up 2%

• Kia up 5%

• Hyundai up 12%
  

• Volvo up 26%

• Subaru up 34%

Ford seems to be the beneficiary of increased sales lately. It appears that the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies have sent a number of customers over to Ford. The following Ford models had material increases in sales Focus up 44%, Escape up 94%, and the Fusion was up 66%.

Other notable increases were posted by the Toyota Prius up 30%, Toyota RAV4 up 33%, Hyundai Elantra up 30% and the Volkswagon Jetta up 31%.

July sales were up at a fairly decent run rate of 11 million cars annually. So, it appears that consumers had more faith in the future to spend money on high ticket items.

SUMMARY:

This month the Cash For Clunkers program had a substantial impact on auto showroom traffic and sales. Unfortunately, the government implemented a half way program. Increasing sales for the automobile manufacturers would do more than all the government loans available.

An interesting anomaly is that sales of U.S. built cars both by domestic and foreign manufacturers appears to be increasing. Meanwhile imported luxury cars continue with the steep declines over last year.

Consumer Reports on Top Picks for 2009

Consumer Reports magazine has just issued their Top Picks for 2009, which are outlined below.

• Pickup Truck - Chevrolet Avalanche
• Fun To Drive - Mazda MX-5 Miata
• Small SUV - Toyota Rav4
• Small Sedan - Hyundai Elantra SE
• Green Car - Toyota Prius
• Minivan - Toyota Sienna
• Best Overall Vehicle - Lexus LS 460
• Upscale Sedan - Infinity G37
• Midsized SUV - Toyota Highlander
• Family Sedan - Honda Accord

They choose these cars based on:

(1) Road Tests - the vehicles must rank at or near the top of their categories which includes more than 50 individual tests and evaluations.

(2) Reliability - each car must have an average or better reliability rating based upon more then 1.4 million vehicles reported by Consumer Reports subscribers.

(3) Safety - top picks must perform adequately in overall safety tests conducted by the government or insurance industry. In addition, each must offer electronic stability control (ESC), which is a proven lifesaving feature.

My view on Consumer Reports is that overall they do a good job of evaluating cars based upon their criteria. Anyone buying a car has to consider a number of additional items styling, driveability, fun factor, brand, warranty, resale value, discounts and affordability. The bottom line is that this is guide to use! In the end result you have to be happy with the car that you have purchased!