Originally Posted By: Matter-eater Man

So where are all the naysayers over the Cash for Clunkers program now that the program is over and has proven to be a win-win for just about everyone.
The sale of 800,000 cars in less than a month's time is a significant shot in the arm for the American economy. Automakers increased production to keep up with demand. ...dealership inventories will likely be low for weeks or even months...that means automakers will have to step up production.


 Originally Posted By: the G-man of Zur-En-Arrh

Many auto industry analysts and dealers expect sales volumes to fall now that the program is over. They worry that many people who took advantage of the program were merely accelerating purchases they would have made later in the year.

If that's true, the premature sales could hurt automakers, which increased production in the third quarter to replenish clunker-depleted inventories that had already grown low because of factory shutdowns over the summer.


September Auto Sales Go Clunk
  • Edmunds.com reports that “September’s light-vehicle sales rate will fall to 8.8 million units . . . the lowest rate in nearly 28 years, tying the worst demand on record. After the cash-for-clunkers program boosted August sales to their first year-over-year increase since October 2007, demand has plunged. In at least the last 33 years, the U.S. seasonally adjusted annual rate has only dropped as low as 8.8 million units once — in December 1981 — with records stretching back to January 1976.”

    “Many people regard February as the darkest month of the recession, but even then (sales were) higher, at 9.1 million units,” adds Edmunds.com statistician Zhenwei Zhou.