US: cash for clunkers winds up, sales go down

The winding up of the two-month Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS, aka "cash for clunkers") program in August has seen September car sales drop back to the lows the industry was recording before the program commenced.

Analyst Audodata recorded a total 745,997 car and light truck sales for September, representing a drop of 22.7 per cent year-on-year and 41 per cent on August.

By the end of the scheme Toyota had consumed 19.4 per cent of sales rebates -- the Corolla was the top selling single model under the scheme. Next came GM with 17.6 per cent, Ford with 14.4 per cent, Honda with 13 per cent and Nissan with 8.7 per cent.

Under CARS, new vehicles with a combined fuel economy 4-10 mpg better than the trade-in vehicle qualified for $3500. Models exceeding the trade-in by 10 mpg or more boosted the credit to $4500.

But for a program designed to see smelly old guzzlers replaced by fuel-efficient new models, CARS was not exactly stringent in its impositions on buyer choice. While the trade-in model had to average worse than 18 mpg (13.1L/100km) combined cycle, the replacement model only had to be good for a combined 22 mpg (10.7L/100km) or better. As Green Carsales reported in August, this allowed some rather large SUVs and pickup trucks -- the Ford F150, the Chevy Silverado -- to limbo into eligibility.

At 19,977 units, September sales for the hybrid segment were down 4.1 per cent year-on-year and 48.4 per cent from the August's 38,701 units. Although Toyota's Prius saw a year-on-year rise of 1 per cent, most likely hailing from the release of the new generation midyear. But the end of the CARS program saw September Prius sales figures drop 42 per cent from August.

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