Cash-For-Clunkers Reveals Weakness Among Detroit Brands

It's obvious from the comments on this site and others in the High Gear Media family that Cash-for-Clunkers remains a hot-button issue, and new data about the program is likely to fuel the fire: according to stats from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, most car buyers used Cash-for-Clunkers to swap out their domestic ride (frequently a Ford Explorer or F-150) for a foreign model. The notable exception: Michigan, where over 81% of Cash-for-Clunkers trade-ins went toward the purchase of a domestic automobile. Other states along the Rust Belt leaned slightly in Detroit's direction, but on the whole, 57% of Americans ditched the Big Three for something foreign like the Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla. Clearly, Detroit has its work cut out for it. We'll see if all those Howie Long ads and Chrysler's new campaigns pay off. [DetNews]

Comments

[outinoz:]

Talk about stating the obvious...

Let's see, the trade in vehicle had to get and average of 18 MPG or less to qualify....who sells the most Trucks and SUVs? Oh yeah, the big 3.

You had to purchase a higher mileage MPG vehicle....who had the biggest inventory of fuel efficient vehicles in July and August? Oh Yeah, Honda and Toyota.

You could use simple logic determined what was going to happen. Ford and GM sold out of their fuel efficient models before the program was over..

Nov 09 04:37 PM

[spawn44:]

The big three may have been late to the party but I would'nt bet against them being the life of the party moving forward.

Nov 09 04:44 PM

[doublestrike:]

Hope you enjoy driving to the unimployment agency with your Honda or Toyoto They may make in few in the US but many still come across the ocean and so does the profit. This country needs the car industry along with the cionstuction industry if we plan to recover.

Nov 09 04:52 PM

[nerfer:]

I'd rather send my money to Japan than to OPEC. (About the same amount of money over the lifetime of a small car, but only one recipient wants to blow us up. And no, we can't drill our own oil to solve the problem, we don't have anywhere near enough of the <$80/barrel stuff.)

I always said I'd buy American when they produced a reasonably priced car that got at least 40 mpg. Finally Ford makes the Fusion hybrid which does essentially that, so next time I'm in the car market, I'll definitely look at Ford. (Their Escape Hybrid isn't bad either).

Nov 09 05:17 PM

[sethmcs:]

Don't worry I pay cash for clunkers. Paid $4,500 in cash for 98 Lincoln Continental. Excellant car.

Nov 09 06:32 PM

[mcbain:]

It should not be a big surprise that the Ford F150 was the most traded in vehicle since, as the best selling vehicle in the USA for the last 40 years, there are more of them available to trade in than any other vehicle. Ford made $1 billion in the last quarter, someone must be buying American. Finally, to those who purchase foreign cars, the average Ford sold in the USA is nearly 80% US content, while the average foreign car sold in the US is 35%. Plus, most of the R&D of the foreign companies are spent overseas, while the domestic 3 spent $14 billion on R&D in the US a few years ago. This is a bunch of jobs. So buy American (Ford)!

Nov 10 08:55 AM

[car_guy:]

You conveniently avoided mentioning California, which was awarded the lions share of the funding, $322,677,500 or 11.3% (almost twice runner up Texas). Over 72% of their purchases with the program were for Asian OEMs. They also had the highest percentage of Toyota sales in the nation with 28% of total purchases being Toyota's. They also had the 2nd highest percentage of Honda sales, after Hawaii, with 19%.

Gee, California buys Asian OEM vehicles, and the mid-west buys US OEM vehicles. What amazing insight. This is hardly a useful picture of the US car market.

Nov 10 10:03 AM

[Gedankonomist:]

Not only that but "cash for clunkers" reveals a "weakness" in Congress' knowledge of the Constitution. Nothing in there about Congress being allowed to rob Peter to pay for Paul's "green vehicle."

We could return the USA to greatness, if we only demanded that Congress obey the Constitution. But that will require some effort on your behalf.

Nov 10 11:42 AM

[PMG43:]

Americans are STUPID! We don't want our government involved in health care but have no problem supporting national health care for foreign citizens which we do with every purchase of a foreign car. We don't want our government putting our tax dollars to work supporting our domestic manufacturing keeping our citizens working and our economy stable. We scream when cities and states cut services and lay off teachers because of revenue losses due to tax losses due the high unemployment. Three cheers for the person who came up with the bumper sticker "HUNGRY EAT YOUR IMPORT"

Nov 10 03:03 PM