Auto Industry, Cash For Clunkers | featured news

Sales fall after a surge in the previous month, but the drop is smaller than forecast. Retail sales fell in September after a popular program aimed at boosting auto sales ended ...

U.S. auto sales boomed in August as consumers burned through $3 billion in government incentives, leaving automakers to contend with both inventory shortages and uncertain demand in the months ahead.

The Obama administration will end its popular Cash for Clunkers program Monday. For auto dealers, that's the bad news. For the rest of the country, what's more worrisome is how wildly policymakers miscalculated how far they could stretch the extra $2 billion they pumped into the program less than three weeks ago.

General Motors Co. will announce increased hours at several factories due to rising sales from the government's Cash for Clunkers program.

Pedal to the metal, Congress sent President Barack Obama legislation Thursday night with an additional $2 billion for "cash for clunkers," the economy-boosting rebate program that caught the fancy of car buyers and instantly increased sales for an auto industry long mired in recession.

Sales under the U.S. government's "cash for clunkers" auto incentive topped 180,000 with Toyota Motor Corp overtaking Ford Motor Co with the top-selling vehicle, officials said on Wednesday.

The U.S. Senate will approve a $2 billion extension of the "cash for clunkers" auto sales incentive by week's end, Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Tuesday, giving new life to a successful program that has boosted industry sales to a 2009 high.

The "cash for clunkers" program could be ended as early as Tuesday unless the Senate approves $2 billion in additional funding, as consumers have jumped at the chance to trade in their aging gas guzzlers.

The popular "cash for clunkers" program will continue at least through this weekend, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Friday.

The U.S. government's $1 billion "cash for clunkers" auto sales incentive program reached its funding limit unexpectedly after an avalanche of business exhausted its funds, an Obama administration official said late Thursday.