Cash For Clunkers final numbers: 690,000 vehicles sold; $2.8 billion used; 24.9 mpg average for the new cars

Filed under: MPG, Legislation and Policy, Green Daily, USA

C.A.R.S. ended Monday night and the numbers are in. At first blush, things look positive.

First, 690,114 vouchers were submitted asking for $2.877 billion (just under the program’s $3 billion limit). There was also $100 million used for administration costs (as Autoblog calculates, about $144 for every claim processed) and there is $23 million or so left over. Flash analysis by the White House Council of Economic Advisers says the program boosted economic growth in the 3Q by 4/10ths of a percent and created or saved 42,000 jobs that still remain, at least for the near future.

How did the overall fuel economy change because of the new 700,000 vehicles on the road? Only two of the top 10 vehicles purchased were from the Big Three - the Ford Focus FWD came in fourth and the Ford Escape FWD was tenth - while the Toyota Prius was seventh. In fact, the Big Three got less of a boost from Cash For Clunkers than would be expected given their market share. Only 38.6 percent of the vehicles sold through C.A.R.S. were Ford, GM or Chrysler models but their market share through July this year was 45.3 percent.

The top three vehicles sold using C.A.R.S. were the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic and Toyota Camry. As for the vehicles being clunked, every single one of the top ten were big honkers from the Big Three: Explorers, F-150s, Blazers, etc. This resulted in an overall fuel economy increase of 58 percent. The clunkers averaged 15.8 mpg; the new vehicles averaged 24.9 mpg. You can find out detailed numbers, including rebate requests by state, after the jump.

The next big question: how will auto sales fare in September?

[Source: Detroit News, Automotive News (subs req'd), Michigan Radio, Autoblog]
Photo by dno1967. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Continue reading Cash For Clunkers final numbers: 690,000 vehicles sold; $2.8 billion used; 24.9 mpg average for the new cars

Cash For Clunkers final numbers: 690,000 vehicles sold; $2.8 billion used; 24.9 mpg average for the new cars originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Details…