THE GENERAL MANAGER of Koenig Chevrolet Subaru says he is confident that Congress will expand funding the federal “cash for clunkers” program.
The $1 billion program, which can finance about 225,000 clunker trade-ins, may receive another $2 billion in government funding.
Chris Koenig of the Port Angeles dealership believes this will happen.
“I’m not concerned about it,” he said.
The number of “clunker” trade-ins his car dealership has due to the program is significant — but difficult to count, Koenig said.
“We have so many deals in process right now, that’s not really something I can even say,” he said.
“All I can say is sales have been very good from it.”
Koenig noted that the government has promised to cover all trade-ins that qualify for federal dollars at least through Friday if the additional funds are not allocated.
Managers at the North Olympic Peninsula’s three other major dealerships, Ruddell Auto Mall, Price Ford Lincoln Mercury and Wilder Auto Sales, all in Port Angeles, couldn’t be reached for comment Saturday.
Nationwide, auto dealers said the cash-for-clunkers program, which officially began last Monday, had ignited the kind of sudden interest in car shopping not seen since zero-percent financing revived industry sales after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Analysts predicted Friday that July sales of new vehicles, which manufacturers will report on Monday, would be about 11 percent higher than June sales.
Most of that jump will be owed to the cash-for-clunkers program, they said.
“I don’t think anybody expected the program to be this popular,” said Greg Martin, a spokesman for General Motors. “There’s no doubt it has jump-started sales.”
The annualized sales rate, used to calculate the strength of the market, could top 11 million vehicles in July — that would be the highest rate since auto sales began plummeting late last year.
But analysts say cash for clunkers cannot cure all the ills afflicting the American auto industry, which has suffered as a weak economy and the credit crisis drove sales down this year to their lowest level in 25 years.
“Nobody is popping Champagne corks because we’re still in a very weak economic condition,” said George Pipas, a marketing analyst at the Ford Motor Co.
“But the traffic we have seen in showrooms this past week is by far the highest this year.”
