List of 10 best-selling cars under Cash for Clunkers rebate program reveals show consumers maxing out on mileage
The results from Cash for Clunkers are in: Compact cars and hybrids were top sellers under the government’s trade-in program, according to government data.
The top-selling car was the Ford Focus, and the top three — including the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla — were compacts. The list also includes three vehicles that are available as hybrids. One, the Ford Escape, is a small crossover SUV also available as a hybrid.
The list of top-selling cars indicates that consumers are buying more fuel-efficient vehicles than most people expected.
The average combined city and highway fuel economy of the 10 cars ranges from at 27 to 33 miles per gallon, depending on which versions people choose.
Under the plan as enacted, vehicles purchased after July 1 are eligible for refund vouchers worth $3,500 to $4,500 on traded-in gas guzzlers. The trade-in vehicle has to get a combined city and highway fuel economy rating of 18 miles per gallon or less.
The list was compiled by the National Transportation Safety Administration, which operates the program.
The news of the top sellers comes as the debate is heating up in the Senate over whether to extend funding for the program. Some lawmakers have argued that the rules for the program aren’t strict enough when it comes to fuel economy.
But while critics had feared that car shoppers would use the program mostly to buy trucks and SUVs, all of the top 10 vehicles exceed minimum fuel economy requirements under the program, in some cases by 20 mpg or more.
“It’s crazy, but we’re seeing trucks — full-size pick-up trucks — traded in for compact cars,” said Mike Jackson, chief executive of AutoNation, the country’s largest auto dealer chain, in interview late last week.
The vehicle most often traded in has been the Ford Explorer SUV, according to George Pipas, a sales analyst with Ford Motor Co.
The popular Cash for Clunkers program faces extinction unless the Senate passes a bill approving additional funding.
Two key senators who opposed more money for the program announced late Monday that they have changed their minds and will support a $2 billion funding extension.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, have always backed the Cash for Clunkers program, but they wanted its extension to require a higher gas mileage standard for new cars that qualify for rebates. But they agreed to support more funding after an analysis by the administration found that in the initial days of program, consumers purchased cars with better fuel economy than required under the law.
Support from Collins and Feinstein is a help to Democratic leaders and President Obama in their bid to gather 60 votes to pass a bill before the Senate goes on summer recess on Friday.
“The Congress appropriated [and] the president signed $1 billion,” said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. “We think another $2 billion can take the program through September and that it’s a good thing.”
Gibbs said the program will likely be shuttered this week if the Senate fails to act.
On Friday, The House of Representatives passed a bill authorizing an additional $2 billion for the program after it apparently burned through its original $1 billion budget in the week since its official July 24 start date.
On Monday, the Clunkers cause got a boost when most major automakers reported better-than-expected sales in July because of a boost in demand sparked by the trade-in program.
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