180,000 Cars For Clunkers; Whose The Most Popular Trade-In?

While Americans continued their frenzy redemption as part of the cars for clunkers program, the U.S. Senate is poised to vote on a $2 billion proposal to extend the popular program. The vote is set for Thursday after Democrats and Republicans agreed to consider seven possible amendments.

All seven amendments are expected to be defeated report Democratic aides. That is expected to clear the way for final passage of the measure passed last week by the House of Representatives. "There's a significant majority that wants to move forward with this legislation," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said before reaching an agreement with Republicans on how to proceed.

The White House supports the extension of the now highly popular cars for clunkers program. Transportation Department figures show federal reimbursements under the program, that offers rebates of up to $4,500 when consumers trade in older cars for new more fuel efficient ones, totaled $775.2 million.
Consumer response to the Cars for Clunkers program since dealers began offering rebates in July has been overwhelming, both government and industry officials affirm.

They expect sales already confirmed by the government and those completed by dealers but not yet through the regulatory pipeline will come close to exhausting the incentive's $1 billion budget.

According to early reports by authorities monitoring the cars for clunkers program, more than 80 percent of vehicles traded-in were light trucks, including sport utilities, pickups and vans. Some 59 percent of the new vehicles purchased were passenger cars, which as a class are more fuel efficient.

Toyota's Corolla sedan overtook the Ford Focus as the best-selling vehicle in the cars for clunkers program. Toyota had two other passenger cars, the Prius hybrid and the Camry, in the top five. The Honda Motor Co Civic was No. 3.

Vehicles made by U.S. manufacturers accounted for all of the top 10 traded-in vehicles, which is to be expected since rebate terms require the older model get no more than 18 miles per gallon in most cases.

The clunker group included five light truck models made by Ford. The list also included three Jeep and Dodge brands made by Chrysler and two GM Chevy models. New vehicles sold under the program average 25.3 miles per gallon while those traded-in got 18.5 mpg authorities report.