Although 9 out of 10 are Japanese companies, how many of the top ten cars themselves are manufactured in North America? I know the number 1 position is, being I pass the plant myself every once and a while.

Why does that not surprise me that the Explorer is #1. I traded mine in a couple of months before this came out. 12 MPG...and a 22 gallon tank...ugh.

Not to be nitpicky, but since when is 8=9? There are 2 Fords on the top 10 list.

8 of 10 foreign. meaning profits going overseas. some u.s. workers were helped by building some of these in the u.s. but... was it really worth it? And where does the car industry from here? The incentive is done for now.

Eight of the top ten, actually. Ford Fusion (#3) and Ford Escape (#8).

"the most-popular new cars bought through the program all offer very good fuel economy"

I thought that was the point?

#3 and #8 Fords. What about GM (government motors)?

Hyundai is not Japanese, so it's actually 7 out of 10.

Who says this program was a success? Cato analyzed it and here is what they discovered:
*A few billion dollars worth of wealth was destroyed. About 750,000 cars, many of which could have provided consumer value for many years, were thrown in the trash. Suppose each clunker was worth $3,000 at a guess, that would mean that the government destroyed $2.25 billion of value.
* Low-income families, who tend to buy used cars, were harmed because the clunkers program will push up used car prices.
* Taxpayers were ripped off $3 billion. The government took my money to give to people who will buy new cars that are much nicer than mine!
* The federal bureaucracy has added 1,100 people to handle all the clunker administration. Again, taxpayers are the losers.
* The environment was not helped. See here and here.
* The auto industry received a short-term "sugar high" at the expense of lower future sales when the program is over. The program apparently boosted sales by about 750,000 cars this year, but that probably means that sales over the next few years will be about 750,000 lower. The program probably further damaged the longer-term prospects of auto dealers and automakers by diverting their attention from market fundamentals in the scramble for federal cash.

@chinadoll724: Ford Escape is manufactured by Mazda. It's a rebadged Mazda Tribute.

@NeverLetMeDown: Ummm... the Focus was #3. The Escape is actually a rebadged Mazda Tribute, so, technically Japanese.

I remember reading that Lotus had something to do with the design of the Focus, so maybe 9.25 out of 10 were Japanese?

@Smashville: MSN had a link a few days ago on their main page with the make/model/year breakdown of vehicles and 4 of them were different years of Jeep Cherokee. The bf has a late 90s Cherokee and it's ridiculous how much gas he plows through.

What's telling is that all of the top 10 trade ins were US cars - 5 of which were Fords. It just says the auto industry hasn't been listening to the consumer for a long time in this country...

@johnva: I was just about to post that myself, Hyundai is Korean aren't they?

@Koinu: Yep.

@heltoupee: The Escape (along with its Mazda version, the Tribute) is actually manufactured at Ford's Kansas City plant. But it was jointly developed with Mazda and is based on a platform originally designed for one of Mazda's vehicles.

I just heard on the radio it is expected that the automobile industry will be cutting back production soon, so this really didn't work other than expanding the budget deficit.

@shepd:

Hyundai is Korean. But I believe the cars are made in the U.S.

We love ours. Both hubby and I drive them.

@shepd: I thought most of them were manufactured here. IDK though, I might be wrong.

@chinadoll724:
Plus, Hyundai is not Japanese. It's Korean.

@heltoupee: But Ford owns a good chunk of Mazda, so it is kinda sorta a Ford.

@chinadoll724: and Hyundai is Korean...

So Consumer Reports just regurgitates the official government propaganda figures that purport to show that people traded in for small economy cars?

The real story is that the top five cars bought were trucks and crossovers

[money.cnn.com]

Creating accounting FTW.

@TinkishDelight: No, its main purpose is a bailout for automakers...although evidently it didn't help domestic manufacturers too much. There are far, far better places to spend the money if they truly wanted to have an environmental impact.

@TinkishDelight: Yeah, but humans are well known in their ability to defeat the point.

Any data on how many of the Ford Escapes were hybrid? Otherwise, it doesn't seem like too much of an MPG upgrade.

(Also, Ford's dirty secret is that they license their hybrid technology because they didn't push their own programs, so part of every hybrid ends up going to Toyota, anyway.)

@shepd:
Looks like 8 out of 10 are foreign - there are 2 Ford cars on the list.

On the other hand it looks like all the turned in cars are American.

Is it really all that hard for American automakers to produce cars as efficient and well made as the Hondas, Toyotas, VWs, and Hyundais people want today? I just don't get it.

The bread and butter of the Japanese automakers has been, for at least 35 years, reliable, nonflashy but attractive subcompact and compact vehicles that get good gas mileage, are relatively easy to repair, hold up well over time, and retain decent resale and trade-in value. Meanwhile, over the same period Detroit has gone berserk with bigger, faster, flashier, more gimmicky and steroidal vehicles that appeal to people's worst (IMO) consumer instincts and instantly become dodos in tough economic times or when fuel prices inflate insanely.

Surely we can do better.

@MostlyHarmless: I know they're manufactured here; I remember passing the giant Hyundai plant in Alabama on my way into and out of New Orleans. I realize that buying one of these cars still helps some American jobs and businesses (maybe even more than buying a Big Three car that was made in Mexico); I was just noting PR implications of all but one of the most popular cars being from a foreign manufacturer (and, conversely, having the ten biggest clunkers be from American car makers).

@Mr.Duke: Word has it that some poor schmuck actually DID buy a GM in the past 6 months. According to reports he is kicking himself.

@earlclemson:
Wouldn't it say the opposite? People bought them new at some point, and I doubt they were forced at gunpoint.

@Mr.Duke: i see what you did there.

@johnva: They all look the same

@chinadoll724: I need new glasses.

@shepd: I think most of them are made in the US. The Prius I believe is mostly made overseas though. And I'm not sure about the Ford (could be mexico)

@earlclemson: That isn't exactly what it means. It would be more accurate to say that American car makers didn't have the vision to create cars that would be desirable for a long term, but seeing as how there were so many cars to trade in with American badges on them, they clearly sold in the first place

@Alex Chasick: Haha yup, I was having a similar conversation with a friend here around the time of detroit bailouts. He mentioned that probably a big reason what a lot of congressmen fron the south were against it was because of all the Toyota/Hyundai etc plants were down south.

@shepd: According to the government, only 54% of the top ten new cars list were made in the United States. Considering that the only two American car company vehicles on that list are both built in the U.S., that means a lot of U.S. taxpayer dollars going to workers overseas, or at least to the profit margins of foreign companies (even if some of the foreign company cars are built here).

Because the Escape has a Mazda twin doesn't make it Japanese. It's built here in the United States for an American company. Ford, by the way, did all of this without taking money from the government, filing for bankruptcy, or getting free health care for their workers from the government (like the Japanese companies ). I think they deserve a round of applause from Americans. They have some pretty good cars too.

@ElizabethD: Ford seems to be going in that direction, GM and Chrysler have not which is part of the reason we are all paying to prop their failed business model up.

What were the most popular cars actually purchased by people trading in their clunkers? To me, the post is not all that clear. Is this a list of the most popular cars in America or the most purchased cars by people who traded in clunkers? And what were the rules governing how the credit was to be spent? Was the government was adding a provision that people trading in cars under this program had to get a certain mileage to buy the car? A friend of mine was getting his car fixed and was talking to a salesperson who said he had seen a ton of people coming in looking to buy Camaros and Chargers and the like.

@ElizabethD: Because back then gas was cheaper and consumers bought the cars, and long term outlook means nothing when you can make a quick, gigantic profit and then retire with a golden parachute before your company goes under.

@shepd: Actually, it is 8 of 10, not 9 of 10. There are two Fords.
Regardless of the specific number, it is a huge shift--almost too large to believe.

@shepd: Nissans are also made in the US. There's a plant in Mississippi.

@Alex Chasick: AFAIK the Alabama plant actually makes the new Sonatas. I believe the Elantras are still manufactured overseas. You can double check! Each one has a sticker that states where it was assembled.

@Mr.Duke: Think about how many cars they just destroyed, which means they lessened the available pool which means they basically just stabilized car prices. Now if only they could systematically go around destroying housing to get the prices back up... hmm..

@scootinger: I agree, but there were mpg rules and restrictions on the trade-in as well as the new car. In fact, a larger mpg improvement even yielded a larger check. Why act like it's a surprise the cars people bought had better fuel economy when that was a stipulation they put into place?

@heltoupee: But Lotus is Malaysian now, but when the design was done it was still British.
How many "Japanese" does that count for? Uhh...
Let's just give up.

A Ford is a Ford is good enough for me--though domestic (and US) parts content is another interesting issue entirely.

@Radi0logy:

The Windstar was a godawful piece of crap that my parents had the misfortune of owning at one point. The head gaskets on that motor were a well known problem, but the recall only affected up through '95 (my parent's '96 ended up needing one at the cost of $1500 in parts and mostly labor). I'm just surprised that enough of them are still around in drivable condition to let it be the 10th most traded in vehicle.

This is a good moment: the US public's taste for overwrought tankmobiles has shifted to more practical cars with a smaller footprint. Granted, CARS pushed the inflection point a half-decade earlier, but it's still good to see.
I'll bet those low mileage SUVs that remain will be thought of as owned by people too slow 'n stupid to junk them when Cash for Clunkers was running and are stuck with them. Not a pretty picture.
Now, the only people likely to buy SUV/Trucks are those that have a real need for them, or guys with small winky-dinks desperately trying to compensate.