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Chris Wasmer works on an engine for a 2010 Ford Escape at Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant. The clunkers program gave Ford’s sales a needed boost.
AP PHOTO
DETROIT — The Cash for Clunkers program boosted sales at Ford, Toyota and Honda in August as consumers snapped up their fuel-efficient offerings, but rivals Chrysler and General Motors withstood another month of falling sales.
The program, which ended on Aug. 24, drew hordes of buyers into quiet showrooms by offering up to $4,500 toward new, more fuel-efficient cars and trucks. The hefty rebates gave automakers and dealers a much-needed lift, spurring 690,114 new sales, many of them during August, at a taxpayer cost of $2.88 billion.
The combined sales results are likely to mark the first year-over-year monthly gain since October 2007.
Ford sold 181,826 cars and light trucks compared with 155,117 in August 2008, when high gas prices and growing economic uncertainty kept people away from showrooms.
Two of Ford’s vehicles — the Focus and Escape — were among the top selling cars under the clunkers program. Sales of the Focus rose 56 percent while those of the Escape crossover vehicle climbed 49 percent.
Ford said sales in its Philadelphia region that includes Northeastern Pennsylvania were even stronger, up 39 percent overall. “Every product that Ford Motor Company is building we are selling,” said Joe Coccia, owner of Coccia Ford Lincoln Mercury in Plains Township.
Japanese automakers Toyota and Honda also posted gains year-over-year gains in August. Toyota sales rose 6.4 percent to 225,088, lifted by small cars like the Corolla, the best-selling clunkers vehicle.
Honda sales rose 9.9 percent to 161,439, also largely on the strength of its fuel-efficient offerings.
Meanwhile, low supplies of fuel-efficient vehicles at Chrysler kept the automaker from benefiting more from the clunkers program.
Chrysler sales fell 15 percent to 93,222 units. That was less than the combined sales of Hyundai Motor America and affiliate Kia Motors America, whose smaller sedans helped boost sales to a combined 100,665 for August.
Going into August, five of Chrysler’s most efficient vehicles were already at low inventory levels. Those vehicles — the Dodge Caliber, the Chrysler Sebring, the Jeep Patriot, the Jeep Compass and the Dodge Avenger — all qualified as Cash for Clunkers purchases.
At General Motors Co., sales fell 20 percent to 245,550. GM said its inventory levels hit an all-time low of 379,000 during August.