U.S. cars excluded from Japan's cash-for-clunkers

[rickaren]

Dec 11, 2009

U.S. cars excluded from Japan's cash-for-clunkers program


The good news for automakers is that Japan is mounting its own cash-for-clunkers program. The bad news is that foreign automakers -- like Ford and G.M. -- are effectively excluded, even though half the vehicles bought under the U.S. program were Japanese.

Not amused, the American Automotive Policy Council, which includes Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, criticized the policy as "outright discrimination," the Detroit Free Press reports. The Obama administration called on Japan to open up its program.

The paper calls the complaints "more about symbolism than sales" since Detroit sells only a handful of vehicles in Japan and have no North American-built vehicles designed to appeal to Japanese customers or meet strict Japanese fuel economy rules.

So far, Detroit automakers have sold 7,901 cars and trucks in Japan through November of this year, while Japanese automakers have exported1.3 million vehicles to the United States.

Under the U.S. cash-for-clunkers program, Japanese automakers claimed 319,342 of the 677,017 vehicles sold, according to federal data.

Of those, about 115,400 were imported from Japan; the rest were built in North America, the newspaper says.

LINK:U.S. cars excluded from Japan's cash-for-clunkers program -