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http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg The Devil is in the details. (cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=230084)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2008_Ford_Explorer_FCV.jpgWayne Gerdes - CleanMPG (cleanmpg.com) - Aug. 28, 2009

Ford Explorers topped the list of junk turned in under the C4C program.

Launched with much criticism, Cash for Clunkers (C4C) turned out to be one of the most successful stimulus programs offered by the Federal government during this economic downturn. Copied from similar successful Government to consumer automobile manufacturer rebate programs from across the globe, this program was deemed “wildly successful” by none other than the U.S. Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood.

As of Tuesday evenings official close, the C4C program saw nearly 700,000 cleaner and more fuel efficient new automobiles purchased while the same number of mostly junk vehicles destroyed. Dealership rebate applications totaling $2.877 billion were submitted by the 8 PM deadline which was just under the $3 billion allocated by Congress for the program.

Cars made in America topped the most-purchased list including the Detroit manufactured Ford Focus, California manufactured Toyota Corolla and Indiana manufactured Honda Civic.

“American consumers, automobile manufactures and their employees were clear winners thanks to the cash for clunkers program,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Manufacturing plants have announced they will be adding shifts and recalling workers. Moribund showrooms were brought back to life and consumers bought fuel efficient cars that will save them money and improve the environment. This is one of the best economic news stories we’ve seen and I’m proud we were able to give consumers a helping hand.”

According to a preliminary analysis by the White House Council of Economic Advisers, the CARS program will add between .3 and .4% to the nations GDP in the third quarter of 2009 thanks to the strong sales of automobiles in late July and early August due to C4C.

Additionally, C4C is projected to save up to 42,000 manufacturing jobs in the second half of 2009. Those jobs are expected to remain well after the program’s close.

Along with the earlier announcements by both GM and Ford for production increases through the third and fourth quarters, Honda also said it will be increasing production at its U.S. plants in East Liberty and Marysville, Ohio and in Lincoln, Alabama.

The somewhat good news is the actual stats on what was traded in and what was purchased. 84 percent of consumers traded in trucks and 59 percent purchased passenger cars. The average fuel economy of the vehicles traded in was 15.8 miles per gallon and the average fuel economy of vehicles purchased is 24.9 mpg. – a 58 percent improvement.

The Department of Transportation employed more than 2,000 additional people to process dealer applications for C4C rebates plus Administer the program .

C.A.R.S. Program Statistics and details

Dealer Transactions

Number Submitted: 690,114 with a dollar value of $2,877.9M

Top 10 New Vehicles Purchased
Toyota Corolla
Honda Civic
Toyota Camry
Ford Focus FWD
Hyundai Elantra
Nissan Versa
Toyota Prius
Honda Accord
Honda Fit
Ford Escape FWD
Top New Vehicle Manufacturers
Toyota 19.4%
General Motors 17.6%
Ford 14.4%
Honda 13.0%
Nissan 8.7%
Hyundai 7.2%
Chrysler 6.6%
Kia 4.3%
Subaru 2.5%
Mazda 2.4%
Volkswagen 2.0%
Suzuki 0.6%
Mitsubishi 0.5%
MINI 0.4%
Smart 0.2%
Volvo 0.1%
All Other <0.1%
Top 10 Trade-ins – The JUNK!
Ford Explorer 4WD
Ford F150 Pickup 2WD
Jeep Grand Cherokee 4WD
Ford Explorer 2WD
Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 2WD
Jeep Cherokee 4WD
Chevrolet Blazer 4WD
Chevrolet C1500 Pickup 2WD
Ford F150 Pickup 4WD
Ford Windstar FWD Van
Vehicles Purchased by Category
Passenger Cars: 404,046
Category 1 Truck: 231,651
Category 2 Truck: 46,836
Category 3 Truck: 2,408
Vehicle Trade-in by Category
Passenger Cars: 109,380
Category 1 Truck: 450,778
Category 2 Truck: 116,909
Category 3 Truck: 8,134
84% of trade-ins under the program are trucks, and 59% of new vehicles purchased are cars. The program worked far better than anyone anticipated at moving consumers out of old, dirty trucks and SUVs and into new more fuel-efficient cars.

Average Fuel Economy

New vehicles FE = 24.9 MPG

Trade-in vehicle FE = 15.8 MPG

Overall FE increase = 9.2 MPG or a 58% improvement

Vehicles purchased under the program were on average, 19% more fuel efficient of all new vehicles currently available, and 59% above the average fuel economy of vehicles that were traded in.

One of the program's stated goals was to raise the average fuel economy of the fleet, while getting the dirtiest and most polluting vehicles off the road which it succeeded in doing albeit at a much lower FE than what the country needed for a meaningful benefit over the longer term.

Requested Voucher Dollar Amount by State

State|$ Amount

ALABAMA|$31,251,500
ALASKA|$4,868,500
ARIZONA|$39,542,500
ARKANSAS|$23,402,500
CALIFORNIA|$326,822,000
COLORADO|$37,676,500
CONNECTICUT|$40,114,000
DELAWARE|$11,235,000
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA|$67,500
FLORIDA|$146,565,000
GEORGIA|$70,496,000
GUAM|$675,000
HAWAII|$7,333,500
IDAHO|$11,655,000
ILLINOIS|$143,613,000
INDIANA|$65,797,000
IOWA|$37,728,000
KANSAS|$31,496,500
KENTUCKY|$40,246,500
LOUISIANA|$33,376,500
MAINE|$16,579,500
MARYLAND|$74,903,000
MASSACHUSETTS|$64,855,000
MICHIGAN|$132,407,500
MINNESOTA|$73,160,500
MISSISSIPPI|$12,463,500
MISSOURI|$61,271,500
MONTANA|$6,461,000
NEBRASKA|$21,784,500
NEVADA|$14,582,000
NEW HAMPSHIRE|$23,045,500
NEW JERSEY|$103,375,500
NEW MEXICO|$13,941,500
NEW YORK|$156,292,000
NORTH CAROLINA|$78,601,500
NORTH DAKOTA|$8,938,000
OHIO|$136,267,000
OKLAHOMA|$37,422,000
OREGON|$37,531,500
PENNSYLVANIA|$138,651,500
PUERTO RICO|$2,252,000
RHODE ISLAND|$10,690,500
SOUTH CAROLINA|$37,207,500
SOUTH DAKOTA|$10,367,500
TENNESSEE|$50,949,000
TEXAS|$183,776,500
UTAH|$24,102,500
VERMONT|$9,879,000
VIRGIN ISLANDS|$1,553,000
VIRGINIA|$98,523,500
WASHINGTON|$55,927,500
WEST VIRGINIA|$13,477,000
WISCONSIN|$70,165,000
WYOMING|$2,513,000

The slightly less than $3 Billion USD spent to fund C4C turned out upwards of $15 Billion USD in direct automobile sales. The trickle down may yield as much as $100 Billion USD injected into the US economy through additional business activity over the next 3 to 6-months. The resultant additional tax revenue should easily pay for the program in total which is a good deal by anyone’s yardstick according to the details above.

Too bad the trickle down will instead yield pink slips for those employed at the C4C’s top selling Corolla manufacturing facility in Fremont, California. Toyota played the American public perfectly given the timing of the Toyota - NUMMI plant closure announced late last night.

If I had some more cash, they could've had another explorer. I'll just have to wait and use my state program next year.

41% of the new vehicles were Trucks. :eyebrow:

I'd love to know how many cars were sold that didn't involve a CARS transaction, in addition to those that did.

I'd like to see the influence the program had on car sales period (getting people into the dealer, even if they don't end up qualifying for the CARS program).

-P

In taking another look at the top 10 purchased list, I'm reminded of someone, I want to say from GM (was it Lutz?) who said that American's don't want to buy small cars.

41% of the new vehicles were Trucks. :eyebrow:

True but 65% of trade ins were trucks. A net gain of 24% more passenger cars instead of trucks.

I agree though, I wish alot less new trucks were puchased under this program.

they were junk when they were made

not bad....not bad at all....the top ten junkers were all from the big three...

I c4c'd a 14mpg Explorer for a 34mpg Ford Escape Hybrid.

:)

Having driven a mid 90s Explorer, I can agree those were junk when they were brand new. Easily the crappiest passenger vehicle I have ever driven.

Do we have a realistic estimate of how many vehicles might have sold without C4C in place? I'd be interested in the delta. The anti-C4C forces are putting numbers out there, but I'm guessing they're just parroting last year's same-month sales. Not realistic because that was before the downturn really kicked in. A more realistic estimate would take sales figures from earlier this year and apply the historical seasonal curve to it.

Hi Dan:

___The August sales results will be out in just a few days and I will lay out a comparison of July/August this year and last. The spike was genuine as we were on a 10.1 to 10.5 million vehicle sales pace through the first 7-months of the year and C4C bumped that up to almost a 20-million rate for the three + weeks that the C4C program was in place.

___In any case, August sales are going to big at Toyota, GM, Ford and Honda in particular.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

If there are more FE vehicles on the road now then there where when this programme started, then isnt that something to be happy about? I think so. Every bit helps and its a step in the right direction!

Could be a spike in sodium silicate sales as well :)

I'm just glad it's over!

My coworker was one of the lucky ones to be able to take advantage of this. He already has an FEH and was planning on junking his old 1st gen Explorer (which we now know was the #1 "clunker") for something very FE, and as a Ford guy he had his eyes on the Fusion Hybrid.

The new car was to be his wife's though (the Escape Hybrid was his wife's daily driver and would become his), and after driving it she didn't like the Fusion for whatever reason. She wanted an MT, and she wanted red. They drove the Jetta and she fell in love with it, so they are now the proud owners of a hot red new Jetta TDI MT with sunroof. Very nice, and on paper a 112% improvement. In reality more than that since he said the "Exploder" rarely got more than 12mpg and they're beating the EPA on the Jetta so far, so more like a 200% improvement.

Hi Dan:


They drove the Jetta and she fell in love with it, so they are now the proud owners of a hot red new Jetta TDI MT with sunroof. Very nice, and on paper a 112% improvement. In reality more than that since he said the "Exploder" rarely got more than 12mpg and they're beating the EPA on the Jetta so far, so more like a 200% improvement.
___Results like that are what the program should have produced across the board.

___Also please tell your co-worker thank you from half-way across the country.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I'm just glad it's over!

It was so successful, it'll be back, but not only for cars.

I can pretty much guarantee you right now there are lobbyists for the refrigerator, washer/dryer, TV, and any other high-energy-use appliance wooing congress to do the same thing for THEIR industry. Save the planet and save our sales!!

Just wait.

If you look at it from an environmental view, it's a good thing, and might help change the way people think. If you look at it from a tax payers point of view, it's a giveaway.

I'm doing the math on this one.

684,941 new vehicles
old mpg = 15.8
new mpg = 24.9
gallons / mile saved = .0231
avg miles / yr = 15,000
gallons saved / year (per vehicle) = 347
gallons saved / year (total) = 237,645,383 gallons
at $3 / gal, that's $713 million a year

$2.877 billion spent will be paid back in fuel savings in about 4 years. Not bad.

(Of course, those who paid the initial cost are not the ones receiving the savings. :()

IMHO that's a strange way to look at the program. Don't forget that buyers are paying for their vehicles net of the rebate, and that's going to dwarf the financial value of their gas savings (at least in the short term). I'm not arguing with your conclusion that the program will lead to gas savings equivalent to the money that the government put in over a reasonable time period, but I question the relevance of that statement.

To state this another way, imagine every taxpayer was eligible for CARS and every taxpayer participated. Then the each taxpayer would be spending an average of $4500 giving himself or herself a rebate which would lead to $4500 in gas savings over the next few years... which sounds like a decent deal except that each taxpayer also pays $8k - $30k to cover the rest of the cost of a new car!

To phrase it another way, this program saves more fuel EVERY DAY than CleanMPG has in it's whole lifetime (3+ years). Nearly twice as much, in fact. That reduction will come in the form of reduced oil imports. The extra money people spent went to the automakers and their employees, many built in the USA, instead of to oil producers who are less than friendly toward us.

Using less oil doesn't necessarily translate into less oil imports, as oil prices drop because of decreased demand imports could increase as local producers wait for better prices.