Cash for Clunkers boosts July US auto sales
August 3rd, 2009 . by TexasFredCash for Clunkers boosts July US auto sales
DETROIT (AP) - Lured by the government’s cash for clunkers campaign, car and truck buyers started returning to showrooms last month, as Ford Motor Co. reported its first U.S. sales increase in nearly two years and other major automakers said sales showed signs of stability.
Overall, automakers are expected to turn in strong performances, most notably Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co., which may pass Chrysler Group LLC and Japan’s Nissan Motor Co. in sales for the first time in history. July sales, if converted to an annual rate, could top 10 million cars and trucks, the first month this year that sales rose above that depressed level.
As recently as 2007, U.S. car and light truck sales topped 16 million vehicles, but the recession, tight credit and a lack of consumer confidence sent sales plunging late last year and during the first half of 2009.
Ford, led by the redesigned midsize Ford Fusion, and strong sales of the Escape crossover vehicle and F-series pickup line, offered encouraging signs for industry analysts who predicted a modest improvement in the second-half of the year.
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Cash for Clunkers boosts July US auto sales
Cash for Clunkers, what a concept…
Do our elected officials think that every person in the United States is dumb enough to fall for this? Do they believe we’re dumbed down to the point of being mindless zombies that just follow along blindly and never question their intent or methods?
Yes, that is, more or less, a highly rhetorical question.
Cash for Clunkers… Can you say smoke and mirrors? I think you can.
All that cash for all those clunkers is good for the auto industry I suppose, and yeah, better fuel mileage is a good thing too, but do the folks in the Senate think WE, The People don’t know that we’re the ones paying for this somewhat different form of a well camouflaged bail out?
I don’t blame the folks that are taking advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program, they need cars, and this is a way to get what looks like a really good deal, at the moment.
In the long run, everyone that buys a car under this Cash for Clunkers program has every American taxpayer as a co-signer on their car loan. But you know, I am betting that none of them are going to come by my house and ask me to go take a ride in their nice, new, fuel efficient car. Not even to go to Sonic during Happy Hour!
Congress approved the plan early in July, but the government considered suspending it on Thursday after an overwhelming response threatened to deplete the $1 billion allocated for the rebates.
But the program continued and the House voted to allocate another $2 billion to keep the sales going. The program’s fate hangs on whether the Senate will vote to extend more funds this week.
Where, exactly, are these funds coming from? Anyone? Bueller?
