WTF? Japan's Cash For Clunker Program Excludes All US Produced Vehicles

Detroit's Big Three automakers urged the U.S. government Thursday to take action over what they labeled Japan's discriminatory "cash for clunkers" program.

In a letter to the deputy U.S. trade representative, General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC called the program "another example of Japan continuing efforts to discriminate against imported vehicles."

The program makes "the vast majority of imports ineligible for the program's significant tax cut benefit, regardless of the vehicle's fuel efficiency," the letter said.

apan is providing up to a $2,830 tax cut for scrapping a car 13 years old or older toward the purchase of a new vehicle, as long as it meets the 2010 fuel efficiency requirements, and a $1,130 incentive for new vehicle purchasers who do not scrap a vehicle.

Under Japan's program, no U.S. vehicles are eligible because of special import rules; 87 percent of Japanese-built vehicles are eligible.


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