'Cash for clunkers' winners -- foreign or domestic?

The latest friction over the "cash for clunkers" program has to do with which automakers are actually benefiting from the American tax dollars that are being spent to subsidize new car purchases.

According to data floating around Capitol Hill, the top five cars being purchased under the program are: 1. Ford Focus, 2. Toyota Corolla, 3. Honda Civic, 4. Toyota Prius and 5. Toyota Camry. Some folks are noting sourly that four of the top five models are made by Japanese companies.

  The reality is not so simple. True, every Focus sold in America is made at Ford’s Wayne, Mich., assembly plant. Of the Honda Civics sold here, 95% are built in Indiana or Ontario, Canada, and all of the engines are made in the U.S.

All of the Corollas sold in the U.S. are assembled by Toyota in either California or Ontario, while “almost all” of the Camrys sold here are assembled at plants in Kentucky and Indiana, according to Toyota. Only the Prius is built exclusively in Japan. (Toyota planned to start making the Prius at a converted SUV plant in Mississippi, but put those plans on hold after hybrid sales collapsed last year along with gas prices and the U.S. economy.)

As originally proposed, the clunkers program would have barred rebates for cars produced overseas, and would have provided less money for cars produced in Canada or Mexico. These restrictions were dumped in part over concerns about creating problems with America's trade partners.

It wouldn’t have made a huge difference, apparently. Besides the Prius, the only other cars among the top 10 clunker sellers that aren’t made in North America are the Hyundai Elantra, which is made in Korea, and the Honda Fit, which is made in Japan. (Rounding out the top 10 are the Ford Escape, Dodge Caliber and Chevy Cobalt.)

Overall, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have accounted for about 47% of the 157,000 new vehicles sold under the clunkers program as of this morning.

Where American automakers really dominate is on the clunker side of the equation. Of the top 10 trade-ins, all are made by U.S. companies: Ford Explorer 2WD and4WD, Ford F-150 2WD and 4WD, Jeep Cherokee and Jeep Grand Cherokee 4WD, Dodge Caravan, Chevy Blazer 4WD, Chevy Silverado 1500 2WD and Ford Windstar.

The junking of all of those old pickups, minivans and SUVs in favor of new compact cars and sedans is giving the clunkers program a bit of the green tinge it was originally intended to provide.

According to the latest government stats, clunker trade-ins (which under the program’s rules can’t be re-sold) have an average fuel economy of 15.8 miles per gallon. The average fuel economy for new cars purchased under the program is 25.4 mpg.

Those numbers have convinced Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to support additional funding for the program despite her earlier concerns that the law’s fuel economy standards weren’t tough enough.

“This program has done much better than we ever thought it would for the environment,” Feinstein told reporters. “The best solution is to continue the program as is.”

-- Martin Zimmerman

Photo: 2010 Ford Focus

Credit: Ford Motor Co.

Comments

[Agent Mike]

Not surprised at all that the top clunkers are from the US auto makers. Hell they are still making clunkers.

[arnold]

All of the profits go to the foreign manufacturer!!! Paticipants should have been required to buy from guv motors so we could get our money back. Could we change the program the next time and sell all the clunkers to Cuba.? They could trash all those 58 Chevies. On second thought have Cuba hold them - we might need them!!

[TonyP4]

A Nation of No Losers

We do not let you be a loser!
Your mistakes will be rewarded handsomely.

When you bought clunkers that you should not have, we give you $4,000.
When you had mortgage that you cannot afford, we're going to bail you out.

When you lose your job, we extend your benefit.

When you do not have saving, we give you free health care.
When you have saving or a job, we punish you by taking your health care away.

Teenagers, the more babies you have, the more benefits you have.

Drunk drivers, no one will prosecute you as the entire jury are drunk.

All athletes are rewarded with millions for taking drugs.
However, we will strongly oppose to any foreign athletes doing same.
It is an America invention!

No other country lets their citizens owning guns to kill other citizens.
NRA and his puppet politicians will give you millions of funny 'reasons'.

When any company fails, we bail it out.
The executives are rewarded with bailout bonuses for bringing down a company

We need you to vote and re-elect us in 4 years.
The children of today cannot vote, so let's pass our debts to them.

[joe]

Idiots like agent Mike is why this country gone down hill keep that stinking thinking that Japanese cars are made better then American car's and by the way why don't you look into buying a home in communist China and fill it up with all the junk built over there.

[JML]

Comments that the US automakers make junk, yada yada is just plain ignorant at this point. Can you at least give a little respect to the companies that helped create the middle class in this country and act like they've actually contributed to the success of the US?

If you want to buy a japanese car then fine...but the facts are the facts, the american car companies have closed the quality gap in just a matter of a few years.

[jmk909er]

Hey TonyP4, rather pessimistic but not far from the truth.

[Martin Zimmerman]

@JML -- Excellent point. And for evidence, you need to look no further than the fact that car at the top of the list is the Ford Focus. -- Martin Zimmerman

[sos]

this message is for joe... i guess that you do not know how much it costs you a house in big city of china though. i bet that if start from notthing at age of 20, you can not even afford the house over there even though you keep working for 4 generations... it is just something for you to know :)

[jhenry]

I beleive this new legislation is a big win for consumers who is ready to buy a new car with fuel efficient models

Jhenry
Blogger
www.cashforclunkersfacts.info
http://www.cashforclunkersfacts.info

[Robert Cunningham]

Even though I bought a new car in 2007 and did not get any reward for my purchase, I am in favor of "Cash for Clunkers." With 21,000+ miles on my Honda Fit, I'm averaging 37.9 MPG overall.

Some Republicans are saying we can't afford two billion dollars more for this program, but I wonder why they never question the $670,000,000,000 we have spent on a war in Iraq. A war that was started because of politician's lies.

[alex]

I traded in my old Jeep Cheorkee (16 mpg) for a new, much higher mileage car. But the Cherokee and the Ford Explorer top the list of clunker trade-ins not because they are bad cars. It's exactly the opposite. Those cars were reasonable priced and drivable for over 10 years. So, their market value had dropped well below $4,500. I would still be driving mine, if this hadn't been such a great deal.

[Kris]

Here we go again with the nagging question: What constitutes a domestic vehicle -- where it's built or where the company is based? Fans of import brands are always quick to point out that certain "import" models are built in the U.S. (thus keeping Americans employed) and certain "domestic" models are built in Canada or Mexico (which deprives Americans of jobs). Meanwhile, domestic loyalists simply say "follow the money", because Toyota's and Honda's profits flow back to Japan. Who wins the argument seems to depend on who you're rooting for -- workers or corporations. Given the state of the job market, I think this round goes to the import loyalists. As long as they build what they're selling in the U.S., who cares if the benefiting corporations are based overseas. Right?

[Patrick]

I buy what I like and could careless about who benefits? If you want my business you need to compete. Don't expect me to buy American because I'm American.

[Eric Bressler]

Alex has it right. I have a 2001 Explorer SportTrac that just passed 150,000 miles with no major issues during all those miles and it still runs great (it's amazing what regularly scheduled maintenance can do for a vehicle).
Even though I'm not going to participate in the program I think it definitely should be extended by at least the additional $2B.

[joe]

Patrick is the type of person that makes my point all the more true. I doubt your much of an American with your anti American attitude!

[jun]

The fact is Japanese cars look better than American. Who designs American cars anyway??? Some nerdy engineer from Harvard?????

[Stephen]

While the 22mpg might seem that the entry bar for getting the rebate was too low, the buying stats show that the US buyer is not an idiot and is buying the higher mpg cars knowing that 22mpg won't be enough when fuel prices rise again as they will. Also no matter who the manufacturer is, the result will be less foreign gas imports, better safety design and buyers getting used to smaller is better and not who has the bigger SUV is king. All benefit from driving on the highways with safer cars. This should clear out most of the car makers car backlog but will leave the gas guzzlers which are for the scrap heap..

[paulie j.]

Brilliant plan... foster the continuation of our failed economy by encouraging citizens who hold no debt on their vehicles to turn them in, thus incurring new debt. This is the same line of thinking that destroyed our housing market. Federal interference breeds federal dependence.

[FRED]

I'll keep my JEEPS thank you.
Not clunkers but great rides for those who need room an d the ability to haul, tow and escape the urban madness.
Do that in a Prius.

[Joshua Sharf]

What was the source and date for the sales numbers? The final list is very, very different from what you show here, and the percentage of Big 3 cars sold is much lower in the final tally.