American Cash & Clunkers Fund Foreign Automakers

Meredith Jessup | August 04, 2009 3:05 PM

As the Senate presses for a timely vote to pour an additional $2 billion into the "successful" cash for clunkers program, the White House is stalling to delay the release of government data on resulting car sales. About 175,000 rebate requests have been processed so far, but the Department of Transportation refuses to release sales data submitted by dealers that would show how U.S. auto manufacturers have been impacted by the clunkers program.

Treasury Secretary Ray LaHood has talked about the positive effects the rebate program will have for faltering U.S. automakers. However, according to limited information released so far, most buyers are not buying American cars. In fact, six of the top ten car models sold have been made by Honda, Toyota and Hyundai.

With this latest data, the holes in the failed clunkers program are only growing larger as the majority of the taxpayers' investment is going to support the competitors of the American auto industry.