‘Cash-for-clunkers’ sales disappoint Detroit

The Financial Times reports:

General Motors and Chrysler sales under the US “cash-for-clunkers” car scrappage incentives fell well below the two Detroit carmakers’ recent market shares, according to the government’s final summary of the scheme, which ended earlier this week.

Underscoring the challenges facing the two companies in the wake of their recent bankruptcy restructurings, the transportation department said that GM models made up 17.6 per cent of the 690,100 vehicles sold under the scheme, while Chrysler accounted for 6.6 per cent of sales.


By contrast, GM’s market share in the first seven months of 2009 was 19.6 per cent, and Chrysler’s 9.6 per cent, according to Autodata, a market-research company.

Toyota was the biggest beneficiary of the subsidies, with a 19.4 per cent market share. Chrysler ended in seventh place behind Nissan and South Korea’s Hyundai.

The struggles of Government Motors.