Who Struggled the Most After Cash for Clunkers?

The government's CARS program (cash for clunkers) was extremely helpful for car companies, driving numerous monthly sales records. Not surprisingly, the majority of car companies saw significantly lower September sales compared to clunker powered August sales. Suzuki did the worst of all brands, as it sold 68% fewer cars in September than it did in August. Not counting Saturn and Pontiac Honda, Chrysler, and Nissan also sold less than half the number of cars in September than they did in August. On the other side of the spectrum, Cadillac, Buick, Porsche and Lincoln actually managed to sell more cars without the clunker program. In the luxury category, Acura did the worst, losing almost a quarter of its August sales, BMW and Lexus both sold 22% fewer cars. Mercedes Benz sold only one percent fewer cars in September, Audi sold only 11% fewer cars.

With the clunker program over, manufacturers will have to find new ways to increase their sales in the future.
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Joe_Limon - 10/2/2009 9:07:21 PM

-2 Boost

Looking at the numbers... Suzuki, Pontiac and Saturn are all disappearing so it's no surprise they are at the bottom. Honda, however I wouldn't have suspected... although their recent designs have been less then appealing. Other surprises include SAAB breaking even on sales since it's future is also in question. Oh and holy cow Cadillac is really turning it's game on. I'm still waiting to see a breakdown of how GM faired in september.

Airliner - 10/4/2009 10:25:39 AM

+2 Boost

Um, hey Joe, where is Suzuki going exactly?? Last I read, they are gearing up to produce Toyota/Honda rivals. But hey, maybe you know something we don't.

Joe_Limon - 10/4/2009 11:02:26 AM

0 Boost

I thought it was on this site, but I read somewhere that they are going to focus on their motorcycle sales. This coincided with the fact that their total north American sales so far this year is only about 33,000 vehicles.

ThierryHenry14 - 10/2/2009 10:56:53 PM

+2 Boost

I thought I remembered Autospies saying that cash for clunkers was a bad idea because it only helps for one month. It appears on the second month, car sales are still decent, better than pre-august, so I think its way too soon to speculate if cash for clunkers was a "failure" or "success"

chewy - 10/3/2009 3:04:16 AM

+3 Boost

A few companies did better this year than a year ago. Most companies sold a lot less cars in September without the clunkers program, which obviously makes sense. But you are right, September was similar to non clunker months.

tango - 10/3/2009 3:03:32 AM

+4 Boost

Well, Thierry, I'm sure you know by now that anything said on these pages is bound to be the opinion of somebody with a slant of some kind. Lots of Obama-bashing Republicans, lots of Bush-bashing Democrats...and then you have the all-round assholes with no political affiliation or any other purpose whatsoever. Lots of yapping about which Hyundai looks like which Toyota, Honda, or Mercedes. Lots of bitching about which GM product needs to be boy-cotted. So on, so forth. So, to be on the safe side, read, comment, argue, but don't take any of the "expert" opining that goes on here seriously. I think it's all for fun, though.

Shredmo - 10/4/2009 9:12:03 PM

+1 Boost

Subaru sold ~50% less vehicles this month compared to the last, but still had positive sales growth for the month of September 2009, compared to September 2008. Hmmm.