Hilarious - Ford Motor's Chief Economist On Cash For Clunkers

I had to laugh. Ford's chief economist was just on TV extolling the virtues of the cash for clunkers program. It was her perspective that somewhere between one in three and one in five cars purchased through the program was a net-new purchase. Re our last post, this would put the cost of the program between $13,500 and $18,000 per net-new vehicle sale. I have not looked at the program details but this is using $4,500 rebate per vehicle.

She also said the most popular car in the program is the Ford Focus. A quick look at Edmunds.com and we find the 2009 Focus has a price between $14,053 - $16,482. In other words, the cash for clunkers stimulus program is paying more than the price of a car for a net-new purchase. Joseph Stalin would be proud.