(Source: Detroit Free Press & Image: Jalopnik)

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration and U.S. House members have reached a compromise over a “cash for clunkers” bill that would offer as many as one million vehicle buyers a voucher for up to $4,500 each to spur car and truck sales.

(Source: Autoblog & The Detroit News)

It’s looking increasingly likely that the United States will soon have its own Cash-for-Clunkers program. According to The Detroit News, two bills are currently competing for Congressional votes, and while they would both offer sizable rewards for turning in older vehicles, they vary in what new cars and trucks would qualify for the program.

One bill, sponsored by Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio) would give the largest voucher – up to $5,000 – to purchasers of new vehicles made in the United States. Slightly smaller amounts would be granted for other vehicles made in the rest of North America, and no cash would be granted for the purchase of foreign-made cars. All cars would need to manage at least 27 mpg to qualify, and trucks would need to hit at least 24 mpg.
 
The other bill, sponsored by Rep. Steve Israel (D-New York), would offer up to $4,500 for the purchase of a new vehicle, assuming that the vehicle being traded-in gets 18 mpg or less, and the new vehicle’s fuel efficiency is at least 25% better than average for its class. No distinction would be made based on the vehicle’s country of origin.

Both would require the scrapping of older vehicles to remove them from the roadways and both would give drivers the option of trading in an old car for a bus or subway pass.

In addition to promoting energy efficiency, the idea is to boost new car sales and get vehicles on the roads with updated safety features.

The program could cost as much as $4 billion and help retire at least 1 million older vehicles. Senior congressional aides and members of the Obama auto task force met earlier this month in search of the best way to pay for and structure it.

Toyota spokesman Charles Ing said his company wants legislation to apply to all fuel efficient vehicles and adhere to U.S. obligations under the World Trade Organization.

(Source: Autoblog, Telegraph UK) 

After weeks of dithering, the Government announced a car scrappage scheme in yesterday’s Budget.  Anyone with a car registered after July 31, 1999 will get a cash incentive of £2,000 to trade in their old vehicle for a brand new one.

However, only £1,000 will come from the Government, with the remaining £1,000 coming from car firms; the motor industry had hoped that the Government would foot the entire £2,000 bill.

Participants will be able to buy any new vehicle, including small vans, rather than just low pollution models. Motorists taking advantage of the scheme must have owned the car for at least one year; it will also have to be taxed, insured and have a current MoT in order to qualify.

About £300 million has been set aside to fund the scheme, to be launched in mid-May. About 300,000 consumers are expected to benefit until the scheme ends in March 2010, unless funding runs out before then.

In the below video, you can hear Mr. Tony Whitehorn, Managing Director of Hyundai UK, welcoming Chancellor Alistair Darling’s ‘cash for bangers’ scheme announcement in the Budget.

(Source: The Brookings Institute)

To help improve the energy efficiency and overall environmental sustainability of the U.S. transportation system, we will need to adopt policies that foster changes in the way Americans travel. A new Brookings report “Making Transportation Sustainable: Insights from Germany” finds that Germany may offer valuable lessons. Like the United States, Germany is a federal republic but it has taken impressive steps to improve transportation options, link transportation planning to land use, and advance other reforms – all while empowering metropolitan action.

Lessons for the United States:

Public policy can play a major role in reshaping America’s transportation system. The German experience offers five lessons to the United States for improving transportation sustainability through changes in travel behavior:

Get the Price Right in order to encourage the use of less polluting cars, driving at non-peak hours and more use of public transportation
Integrate Transit, Cycling, and Walking as Viable Alternatives to the Car, as a necessary measure to make any sort of car-restrictive measures publicly and politically feasible
Fully Coordinate and Integrate Planning for Land Use and Transportation to discourage car-dependent sprawl and promote transit-oriented development
Public Information and Education to Make Changes Feasible are essential in conveying the benefits of more sustainable policies and enforcing their results over the long term
Implement Policies in Stages with a Long Term Perspective because it takes considerable time to gather the necessary public and political support and to develop appropriate measures.

Click here to download the report.  Here is the read-only version of the report.

 (Source: Time)

A Lot Full of Old Clunkers For Sale

It’s no secret that one of the biggest reasons the U.S. auto industry is teetering on collapse is that, quite simply, Americans have stopped buying cars. U.S. auto sales were down 37% in March from 2008, the latest in a nearly unbroken year-and-a-half streak of falling sales. And if the cratered economy is the main culprit behind backed-up inventory at U.S. car dealers, another is that American automakers have failed to produce the more fuel-efficient vehicles that gas-price-conscious car buyers are beginning to demand. As a result, the U.S. still sends hundreds of billions of dollars overseas for oil — and adds ever more greenhouse-gas pollution into the atmosphere. 

Now what if there were a way to tackle both these problems with one policy: to stimulate demand for American cars while making the U.S. auto fleet cleaner, greener and more efficient? It sounds like the kind of slick two-for-one pitch you might hear from a used-car salesman, but that’s exactly what proponents of a “cash for clunkers” program are promising.

But is cash-for-clunkers really two-for-one? That depends. There are currently two main bills in the House and Senate, which, according to greens, are not created equal. One, sponsored by Democratic Ohio Representative Betty Sutton, allows any car from model year 2000 or earlier to be traded in, without any restriction on fuel economy. In return, car buyers will get $4,000 if they buy a new U.S. car that gets a minimum mileage of 27 m.p.g. and $5,000 if they buy a U.S. car with at least 30 m.p.g. Crucially, the new cars have to be made in the U.S. — foreign brands can qualify, but only if they’re manufactured on U.S. soil, which would disqualify super-efficient vehicles like Toyota’s Prius hybrid, made only in Japan.

Whichever bill is chosen — and others are being circulated as well — a successful cash-for-clunkers program wouldn’t be cheap. Germany’s program may end up costing the government some $6 billion, three times the initial price tag. Since Obama has said that money for the cash-for-clunkers program needs to come out of existing stimulus spending, that might take some creative accounting. But a cash-for-clunkers program, whatever its environmental benefits, would provide the government with a way to aid the domestic auto industry without giving Detroit any more direct handouts. “There’s a lot of justifiable taxpayer reluctance to keep helping the auto industry,” says Goldstein of the Center for American Progress. “Politically this is a viable alternative to sending them additional loan money.”

(Source: Washington Post) 

Without higher gas taxes, ‘cash for clunkers’ won’t do the job 

CAR SALES in Germany jumped an astonishing 40 percent in March, thanks in large part to a “cash for clunkers” program in which the government gave those handing over old-model cars roughly $5,000 toward the purchase of newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Lawmakers in the United States have crafted similar proposals, hoping both to provide a boost to the U.S. auto industry and to spur sales of environmentally friendlier cars. But even the best of these proposals is not likely to provide the punch of the German initiative.

Click here to read the entire article (free regn. required).  

Note:  Below is a list of articles on this issue, previously published on TransportGooru.  This compilation of articles offer an insight into state of various “Cash for Clunkers” style programs implemented (or currently being debated) across the globe (Germany, UK, etc,). Stay plugged in to TransportGooru for more on this topic in the days to come.

 Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) Act revives “Cash for Clunkers” scrapping plan in U.S

Germany plans to extend Abwrackprämie aka “Environmental Bonus”

The bickering starts over the implementation of the Cash for Clunkers legislation

Obama Favors “Cash for Clunkers”

Germany increases subsidy to 5 Billion Euros, tripling incentives for its “Cash for Clunker” (Abwrackprämie) program

Britain mulls implementation of “Cash for Clunkers” scheme to boost ailing auto sales 

Where the US stands in pushing “Cash for Clunkers”- Four bills in Congress; Details Needed

(Source: Tree Hugger)

Leader in the Pack 
Rep. Sutton’s Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) Act would give consumers incentives of $3,000 to $5,000 for turning in vehicles that are 8 years or older to buy more fuel-efficient vehicles or to obtain a transit voucher. She says that support is growing every day. The bill has gathered 21 co-sponsors so far, up from 19 a couple of weeks ago. The bill is still working out the metric of how cars would need to be traded in and what fuel efficiency would need to be for the new car. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has a similar proposal (with a short title of Accelerated Retirement of Inefficient Vehicles Act of 2009) that would mandate that the new car be 25% aboveCAFE standards . There has not been anything mentioned about how many cars one person or family can switch for the credit. Also, some states already have incentives for buying cleaner cars, so will individuals be able to get both state and federal credits? If so, in places like Texas , a person could get a combined total of as much as $8,500.00 for a new car.

Click here to read the entire article.  Here is the CNBC video of  the Cash for Clunkers featuring industry experts Dave McCurdy, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and John Wolkonowicz, IHS Global Insight.

 Note:  Below is a list of articles published on TransportGooru, offering insight into state of various “Cash for Clunkers” style programs implemented (or currently being debated) across the globe (Germany, UK, etc,).

Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) Act revives “Cash for Clunkers” scrapping plan in U.S

Germany plans to extend Abwrackprämie aka “Environmental Bonus”

The bickering starts over the implementation of the Cash for Clunkers legislation

Obama Favors “Cash for Clunkers”

Germany increases subsidy to 5 Billion Euros, tripling incentives for its “Cash for Clunker” (Abwrackprämie) program

Britain mulls implementation of “Cash for Clunkers” scheme to boost ailing auto sales

(Source: Autoblog)

Germany recently began a scrapping incentive program that gives buyers €2,500 to get rid of their old cars and buy new ones. The plan helped create a 21% jump in car sales during the month of February, even though the plan didn’t take effect until February 20. It was the kind of success that has both the UK and the U.S. mulling over such a program, and has Germany considering doubling the incentive plan by adding another €1.5 billion of government money. 

 According to The Local, a Düsseldorf paper – Rheinische Post report says that car sales have reportedly increased significantly since the scrapping bonus came into effect on February 20, and now there is “department-wide agreement” that is should be extended, citing an anonymous government source. 

But the scheme was only set to be available as long as funds lasted. The paper said the government plans to discuss the extension during a coalition committee meeting after Easter, and that most of the finance and economy officials had already given their consent.

Click here to read the entire article. Also,  shown below are two related articles from TransportGooru archives:

Should the U.S. institute a vehicle scrapping plan?

Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) Act revives “Cash for Clunkers” scrapping plan in U.S.

(Source: Outsourced Logistics)

There are six discussions of ways to better manage transportation and delivery costs in “Creativity and Flexibility are Keys to Managing Rising Logistics Costs,” a white paper from Purolator USA. With particular focus on cross border freight traffic between the US and Canada, as well as shipments moving within the US, here are a few suggestions from Purolator to aid in controlling costs while not sacrificing service or standards.

Rethink Shipping Options. For example, reserve air transport only for those shipments that are extremely time sensitive and must be delivered by a specific date. Weigh the costs and time window since there are available ground shipment options that might get the job done.

Take Advantage of Governmental Trade Program Incentives. There are programs beyond NAFTA offered by both the US and Canadian governments to help shippers widen their customer bases. They include the Non-Resident Importer and Duty Drawback programs, among others. These and other governmental matters are discussed in the white paper.

Click here to read the entire article.