'Asians beat Americans in Cash for Clunker sales'

Asians beat Americans in Cash for Clunker sales

09/10/09 07:30

Eight of the ten best-selling vehicles under the Cash for Clunkers program were manufactured by Japanese and South Korean companies, leaving cars made by the Detroit Three in the dust, according to government data released last Friday.

Under the program, the Toyota Corolla hit the number 1 spot in sales, while Toyota also bagged the number one spot for manufacturers, overtaking General Motors Corp. in the race for the highest sales share in Cash for Clunkers, which gives $3500 or $4500 in rebates to people who will trade-in their old cars and trucks for more efficient ones.

The only two American-made vehicles in the top ten are the Ford Focus and the Ford Escape. Ford Motors has started on as the top manufacturer during the program, but slid on to the third spot thereafter.

The program was originally designed to help American carmakers out of the crisis that they are in and to replace inefficient cars on the streets with more efficient ones. The stimulus program has helped boost the sales of Ford, GM, and Chrysler, but their sales shares fell short of the shares that they hold in the overall US economy, which may point towards future trends in the automobile industry.

Furthermore, all of the vehicles listed on the list of top trade-ins came from these three manufacturers, which also point to Detroit's love for gas-guzzlers and inefficient vehicles in the past few decades. Ford also hit this list, with its Ford Explorer making it as the number one trade-in.

Also, according to the government report, the program was expectedly most famous in California, in which auto dealers submitted around $152 million worth of rebates.

Now that the big party is over and the car companies are going back to their sluggish ways, the question is, "Will they be able to maintain their sales or is this just an overnight thing?"

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