Hybrid Car Review

The Cash for Clunkers program has reportedly seen 358,851 submissions for the program from dealerships. Those submissions indicate the government owes about $1.5 billion in rebates, making this the halfway point for the program. That is, unless the government once again decides to push more money out.

The government has only released some summary numbers on the program so far. The AP and others have applied for the raw data, but so far they have not received anything.

The latest figures from the government indicate that Toyota has surpassed GM for the most popular car maker to buy from using the CARS program.   Cars make up the majority of vehicle bought, while trucks are the majority of vehicles being recycled.  That leaves a lot of room for improvement in fuel economy (from 15.8 mpg to 25 mpg).  It's interesting to note the differences between what the government is releasing and the figures obtained from surveys by Edmunds and others.


Top 5 manufacturers for new vehicles

1. Toyota 18.9 percent
2. GM 17.6 percent
3. Ford 15.4 percent
4. Honda Motor Co. 12.9 percent
5. Chrysler 9.1 percent

1. Toyota Corolla
2. Honda Civic
3. Ford Focus fwd
4. Toyota Camry
5. Toyota Prius
6. Hyundai Elantra
7. Ford Escape fwd
8. Honda Fit
9. Nissan Versa
10. Honda CR-V 4WD

1. Ford Explorer 4wd
2. Ford F-150 2wd
3. Jeep Grand Cherokee 4wd
4. Jeep Cherokee 4wd
5. Ford Explorer 2wd
6. Dodge Caravan / Grand Caravan 2wd
7. Chevrolet Blazer 4wd
8. Ford F-150 4wd
9. Chevrolet C1500 2wd
10. Ford Windstar fwd

1. California $152.4 million
2. Texas $91.1 million
3. Michigan $80.6 million
4. New York $77 million
5. Ohio $76.3 million

• Passenger cars 208,378
• Category 1 trucks 124,187
• Category 2 trucks 22,157
• Category 3 trucks 883

• Passenger cars 60,365
• Category 1 trucks 233,704
• Category 2 trucks 58,154
• Category 3 trucks 3,506

• Average fuel economy of purchases 25 mpg
• Average fuel economy of trade-ins 15.8 mpg