Here's the list! Full read at the source!

Large cars
Buick LaCrosse
Ford Taurus
Lincoln MKS
Volvo S80

Midsize cars
Audi A3
Chevrolet Malibu (built after Oct. 2009)
Chrysler Sebring 4-door (with optional ESC)
Dodge Avenger (with optional ESC)
Mercedes C-Class
Subaru Legacy
Subaru Outback
Volkswagen Jetta sedan
Volkswagen Passat sedan
Volvo C30

Small cars
Honda Civic 4-door (with optional ESC, except Si)
Kia Soul
Nissan Cube
Subaru Impreza (except WRX)
Volkswagen Golf 4-door

Midsize SUVs
Dodge Journey
Subaru Tribeca
Volvo XC60
Volvo XC90

Small SUVs
Honda Element
Jeep Patriot (with optional side thorax airbags)
Subaru Forester
Volkswagen Tiguan

Source: AOL

Two armored Secret Service vehicles, a Chevrolet Suburban and a limousine that belong to Vice President Biden's fleet, hit and killed a pedestrian just over the D.C. border in Maryland. The accident happened in the early hours of Wednesday morning as the vehicles were being returned from Andrews Air Force Base to a secure storage location. No dignitaries were on board.

The man was crossing at an intersection on Maryland's Suitland Parkway under rainy conditions at 2:27 a.m., the Washington Post reported.

The limousine and Suburban had been used on the vice president's visit to Fort Lewis in Washington State, where he attended and spoke at a memorial service for seven soldiers based there who were killed in Afghanistan. Following the service, as is customary, the vehicles were flown back to Andrews. The vehicles are both armored and therefore must be driven by specially trained employees who have taken a "protective operator's driving course," the Post reported. The paper quoted Secret Service spokesman as saying the armor protection makes them "tricker to handle than ordinary vehicles."

U.S. Park Police are currently investigating the accident.

Source: InsideLine

The White House said the influential automotive news Web site Edmunds.com's harsh analysis of the impact of "cash for clunkers" was "faulty" and "implausible."

Edmunds CEO Jeremy Anwyl shot back that the White House was "shooting the messenger." Edmunds said cash for clunkers cost taxpayers $24,000 per vehicle sold.

Nearly 690,000 vehicles were sold during the $3 billion cash for clunkers program that offered up to $4,500 rebates, officially known as the Car Allowance Rebate System, but Edmunds.com analysts calculated that only 125,000 of the sales occurred as a result of the program.

Edmunds is clearly among the more pessimistic about the program's impact.

The White House, in a report in September, said it believed 440,000 were incremental sales -- though it could be as high as 560,000 under its most optimistic scenario. More in the jump!

Ford Motor Co. said in August it believed 30 to 40 percent of clunkers sales were "truly incremental" -- which would translate to an industry increase of 210,000 to 280,000.

Moody's said 60 percent were incremental, while General Motors estimated it about was 500,000. As observers pointed out, Edmunds has been skeptical of the program since the summer. In June, Edmunds called it a "non-event" and said cash for clunkers "will struggle to produce the estimated 250,000 vehicle sales."

In fact the program sold nearly that many vehicles in the program's first week.

Edmunds.com's "faulty analysis suggesting that the cash for clunkers program had no meaningful impact on our economy or on overall auto sales. This is the latest of several critical 'analyses' of the cash for clunkers program from Edmunds.com, which appear designed to grab headlines and get coverage on cable TV," the White House said on its blog Thursday afternoon. "Like many of their previous attempts, this latest claim doesn't withstand even basic scrutiny."

The White House said Edmunds based its analysis on the "implausible" assumption that "the market for cars that didn't qualify for cash for clunkers was completely unaffected by this program. In other words, all the other cars were being sold on Mars, while the rest of the country was caught up in the excitement of the cash for clunkers program."

The administration also said Edmunds didn't account for the "beneficial impact" the program will have on fourth-quarter Gross National Product because automakers have ramped up their production to rebuild their depleted inventories.

"Most importantly, this program is helping boost our economy and create jobs now when we need it most. In a comprehensive report, the Council of Economic Advisers estimated that cash for clunkers will create 70,000 jobs in the second half of 2009," the White House said. "Edmunds.com, on the other hand, is promoting a bombastic press release without any public access to their underlying analysis."

Edmunds stands by its analysis.

"Instead of shooting the messenger, government officials should take heart from the core message of the analysis: The fundamentals of the auto marketplace are improving faster than the current sales numbers suggest," Anwyl wrote.

The central issue, Anwyl said, "is how many of these sales would have occurred anyway. Apparently, the $24,000 figure caught many by surprise. It shouldn't have. The truth is that consumer incentive programs are always hugely expensive when calculated by incremental sales -- always in the tens of thousands of dollars."

Edmunds rejected the White House suggestion that people got caught up in the excitement of the program and bought cars, even if they didn't qualify. And it discarded the notion that automakers boosted production solely because of the program.

"No manufacturer increases production, a decision with long-term consequences, based on the 30-day sales blip triggered by an event like cash for clunkers," Edmunds wrote.

The White House got a boost from Mike Jackson, chairman and CEO of AutoNation.

While Edmunds is usually highly respected within the automotive industry for its accuracy and reliability, he said, its analysis of the cash for clunkers program is "shoddy."

"Simply put, they've misrepresented the facts, and the White House is completely justified in calling them out on it," Jackson said, adding that it appears "Edmunds' political views have tainted their usual rigorous approach to research."

"I know from our sales at AutoNation just how significant the impact of the cash for clunkers promotion was in our dealerships, and our own internal figures indicate that the rate of increase was consistent with what other retailers, manufacturers and governmental agencies have been estimating," he said.

"We believe that the incremental sales are over 500,000 new vehicles. Edmunds may not want to believe Ford or General Motors or Moody's or the White House or any of the dozens of other reliable parties who saw significant sales increases as a direct and indirect result of the program, but that doesn't make the increases any less real."

Source: Detroit News

Former U.S. President George W. Bush urged the Obama administration to sell the government’s stakes in banks and carmakers “as quickly as possible,” arguing that only private companies can spark an economic rebound.

Government “has got to get out of the private sector, and therefore I hope our government gets out of the autos and the financials in which they have a stake,” Bush told members of the Montreal Board of Trade, an association of local business people, in a sold-out speech today. “Temporary measures must be temporary.”

U.S. taxpayers are “extremely unlikely” to earn any return on the $700 billion government program to invest in banks and other companies that was approved as the financial system teetered on the edge of collapse last year, a quarterly audit said yesterday. More in the jump...

In a report to Congress, the Troubled Asset Relief Program watchdog Neil Barofsky said that recouping the billions of dollars given to insurer American International Group Inc. and automakers General Motors Co. and Chrysler LLC “is far from certain.” He also said that $50 billion set aside for helping struggling homeowners lower their mortgage payments will yield “no direct return.”

Bush, in his remarks today, said that when his administration introduced TARP, “the whole system of capitalism was frozen, it was like a frozen corpse with a faint heartbeat.”

‘Here Is Some Blood’

“So we said, ‘Here is some blood. When you get on your feet, you can find cheaper money and give us back the taxpayer money with a nice return,” Bush said. “But these measures have got to remain temporary for us to recover.”

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Oct. 20 that the administration would end some of the biggest TARP programs in coming weeks, including the one that made capital injections into large banks.

“I don’t believe government can lead us out of the mess we are in,” Bush said. “The private sector is the only engine for economic growth.”

About 1,000 people paid between C$200 ($191) and C$400 each to attend Bush’s speech in a downtown Montreal hotel, according to the Board of Trade. Hundreds of people protested outside the building, with police arresting five of the demonstrators, according to a Canadian Broadcasting Corp. report.

Bush’s Fee

Speaking fees for Bush, 63, may exceed C$150,000 ($143,175), the Montreal Gazette reported in August. Christian Darbyshire, a partner at Calgary-based TinePublic Inc., which organized the event, declined to say today how much the former president was paid for his appearance.

Bush prefaced his remarks by saying they shouldn’t be construed as a criticism of President Barack Obama.

“I didn’t like it one bit when former Presidents criticized me,” he said. “I wish President Obama all the best. I love my country. I understand how tough the job is. He will have plenty of critics throughout his presidency, and I don’t intend to be one of them.”

On foreign relations, Bush urged the U.S. to continue its military mission in Afghanistan. Obama has been reviewing his strategy for the war there; former Vice President Dick Cheney, in a speech last night in Washington, said the White House was “dithering” in its deliberations.

Troop Decision

Among the decisions facing Obama is whether to add as many as 40,000 more U.S. military personnel to the 68,000 that will be in Afghanistan by the end of this year.

Under Bush, a NATO coalition led by the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 and ousted the Taliban government that had harbored the al-Qaeda terrorists responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks. As part of Bush’s war on terrorism, a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq in early 2003 and drove out the government of the late Saddam Hussein.

“I am deeply concerned that if we abandon Afghanistan too soon, the extremists will find a safe haven and I feel pretty confident that they will hit us again,” Bush said. “A functioning democracy, a democracy that can defend itself and govern itself, that will happen sooner in Iraq than it will in Afghanistan.”

Bush also urged the U.S. Congress not to endanger the $1 billion-a-day U.S.-Canadian trading relationship and to repeal the “Buy America” provisions in the stimulus package passed in February that sparked calls for retaliatory measures in Canada. “Trade leads to wealth,” Bush said. “The ‘Buy America’ provisions are bad provisions in U.S. law and ought to be taken out.”

The stimulus measure requires that steel and manufactured goods purchased with the funds be made in the U.S. or in countries with whom the U.S. has a trade accord. Because of a provision in the North American Free Trade Agreement, Canada doesn’t qualify for projects in which the stimulus money is spent by state or local governments.

Source: Bloomberg

I wish I was making this up. Maybe this is a joke? Just look at some of the vehicles sent to their deathbeds. Hit the jump to see the full list; feel free to comment after you pick your jaws up off the floor.

* 1987 Buick ASC GNX
* 1997 Aston Martin DB7 Volante
* 1997 Bentley Continental R
* 1989 20th Anniversary Pontiac Trans Am
* 1992 GMC Typhoon (no!)
* 1985 Audi Quattro
* 1992 BMW 850i
* 2006 Audi A4 Convertible
* 2006 Cadillac STS
* 2008 Foose F-150 (2)
* 2007 GMC Acadias (3)
* 2008 Hyundai Accent (see above)
* 2006 Nissan 350Z Roadster
* 2006 Roush Stage 3 F-150 (2)
* 2006 Toyota Corolla
* 2005 Mazda RX-8
* 2002 Kia Spectra
* 1988 Aurora Cobra kit car
* 1996 Buick Funeral Coaches/Hearses
* 1987 Duntov GT
* 1987 Excalibur Autos Phaeton
* 1990 Honda CRX (Less than 18 mpg?)
* 1985 Maserati Quattroporte
* 1999 Mercedes C43 AMG
* 1985 TVR 280i convertible


Groupings

* (18) Audi S4 and S6
* (31) AM General postal vehicles
* (24) Alfa Romeo 164
* (60) AMC Eagle
* (53) Audi A8
* (3,500+) BMWs including an M3, M5, Z3, 850i and (3) 740il Protection
* (52) Cadillac Allante
* (15) Cadillac Commercial Chassis/Limousines
* (1,007) Chevy Camaro
* (97) Chevy Corvette
* (5) AWD Chrysler 300
* (17) Chrysler Conquest
* (39) Chrysler TC by Maserati
* (3) Dodge Conquest
* (6) Dodge Daytona
* (210) Dodge Stealth
* (16) Eagle Talon
* (2) Federal Coach Lincoln Limo
* (2) Ford Aspire (didn't these things get like 30 mpg?)
* (855) Ford Crown Victoria CNG
* (917) Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor
* (14) USPS Ford Explorer
* (24) Ford F-150 SVT Lightning
* (1,611) Ford Mustang (so Mustang beats Camaro here)
* (107) Ford Taurus SHO (don't tell Neff)
* (15) Isuzu Vehicross
* (1,047) Jaguars including (9) XJR, (2) XK8 and (96) XJS
* (3) Laforza SUV
* (6) Maseratis including a Biturbo and the 1985 Quattroporte
* (373) Mazda RX-7
* (5,000+) Mercedes-Benz including (142) SL, (3) S600, a 1994 E500, a 1992 500E, 1995 C36 and 1999 C43
* (26) Merkur Scorpio and (21) XR4Ti
* (187) Mitsubishi 3000GT
* (3) Mitsubishi Eclipse and (4) Starion
* (2) 1984 Nissan 200SX, (2) 1994 240SX and (381) 300ZX
* (1,935) Oldsmobile Aurora
* (22) Peugeot
* (87) Pontiac Aztek (more please), (61) Fiero and (569) Firebird/Trans Am/Formula
* (6) Porsche 928 including (2) S4
* (6) Porsche 944
* (597) Saab
* (3) Saturn
* (20) Sterling
* (173) Subaru including (123) SVX
* (327) Toyota Supra, including (4) final generation


Source: Cars.Gov

The U.S. Transportation Department has announced that the Car Allowance Rebate System, known colloquially as Cash for Clunkers, has nearly exhausted its $3 billion in financing and will be discontinued Monday, August 24, according to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. This is well short of the program's original conclusion date of November 1.

The DOT said that dealers had applied for $1.9 billion in rebates thus far and government surveys have sought to determine how many transactions remain unclaimed.

However, numerous dealers have complained that they have yet to be paid on claims dating back to late July when the program began. But today President Obama said that there have not been "extraordinary delays" in the processing of dealers' claims. The government has simply done its best to avoid fraudulent claims. "This is actually a high-class problem to have — that we're selling too many cars too quickly, and there's some backlog in the application process," Obama said in a radio interview released by the White House.

Source: Edmunds

The Senate reached a deal on saving the dwindling ''cash for clunkers'' program late Wednesday, agreeing to vote on a plan that would add $2 billion to the popular rebate program and give car shoppers until Labor Day to trade in their gas-guzzlers for a new ride.

Following lengthy negotiations, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats and Republicans had agreed to vote on the plan Thursday, along with a series of potential changes to the bill, which was passed by the House last week. Reid has said Democrats have enough votes to approve the measure and reject any changes that would cause an interruption in the rebates of up to $4,500.

Reid said the agreement ''accomplishes what we need to accomplish.''

Source: NY Times

Still love Obama? How did this become acceptable? Cars.gov allows government to takeover your computer when you submit info on the clunker you're trading in. Nice of them!

This much seems certain about the Cash for Clunkers program: Consumers are happy to take government rebates to buy new cars.

The fate of the $1 billion trade-in program was up in the air over concerns that it may have already burned through its funds less than a week after it was officially launched.

It was unclear whether car buyers would be able Friday to trade in clunkers.

Congressional sources said early Thursday evening that the program would be put on hold. But Obama administration officials said later that Clunkers had not been suspended and that they were studying the situation.

"Auto dealers and consumers should have confidence that all valid ... transactions that have taken place to date will be honored," a White House official said in a statement.

An official at the Department of Transportation, which manages Cash for Clunkers, said the administration would try to work with Congress to find more funds to keep it going.

Source: CNN Money

Japan has sent a letter of concern to the United States on a bill recently passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, which contains a provision similar to "Buy American", an official at Japan's foreign ministry said.

The letter, sent earlier this week from Japan to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, comes as the United States says the "Buy American" provisions are in line with World Trade Organisation commitments.

In the letter, Japan's ambassador to the United States, Ichiro Fujisaki, expressed worries on a provision in the appropriations bill for energy and water development that said funds should not be used to buy cars other than those made by the Big Three, the official said. The Big Three refers to troubled U.S. automakers Ford Motor Co, General Motors and Chrysler.

"If it limits it to just the three, this violates the World Trade Organisation's fundamental principle of non-discrimination," said the official, who declined to give her name.

"Taking into consideration the flow from the previous stimulus package, we are concerned that there will be more moves to promote purchasing of American products."

"Buy American" provisions in the U.S. stimulus bill generally require public works projects funded by the bill to use only U.S.-made steel, iron and other manufactured goods.

Source: Reuters

Yet nine months after saying, "I do," Schaumburg has called the whole thing off, citing no improvements in safety and a flood of angry-motorist grief, after red-light cameras at the village's lone picture-snapping intersection netted more than $1 million in tickets.

The dissolution of this once-happy union between a town and its red-light system is not a first for Illinois -- Bolingbrook turned off all its cameras in 2007 -- but it shows the red-hot debate over red-light cameras, even in cities that have already signed on the dotted line. In fact, it is often only after the cameras -- and their copious tickets -- arrive that the revenue-versus-safety arguments begin in earnest.

In Schaumburg, the problems started almost on Day One. More in the jump!

"We felt like, 'Wait, something is wrong here,' " Village Trustee Marge Connelly said before the board voted unanimously Tuesday night to terminate its contract with RedSpeed, Illinois' largest red-light camera company.

"We're not condoning running red lights, but in our case this was not the right way to handle it."

What was "wrong" in Schaumburg's case began with trying to do something right, several trustees said, recalling their unanimous vote last September. "From the outset this was all about safety," said Trustee George Dunham.

"Our board never went into this intending to collect a lot of revenue," said Ken Fritz, the village manager. "We felt that if it really improved public safety, it was good, and if it helped us with revenue, that was good too."

When Schaumburg first signed on to the red-light camera business last year, officials could hardly wait to get started, which is why they chose Meacham and Woodfield Roads as the first of their 10 planned camera locations. That intersection wasn't chosen because it had a lot of accidents -- the spot isn't even in Schaumburg's top 10 -- but because all of the intersection's approaches are in the village's boundaries and are local roads. This let village officials deploy the cameras much faster, avoiding the state approval needed for cameras on state roads.

Almost immediately, that selection paid off, literally, as cameras there flashed as fast as a paparazzi pack, mostly nabbing drivers for making right turns on red without a complete stop. In just 2 ½ months, the cameras spit out about 10,000 tickets, each a $100 violation.

"I was shocked, frankly, that the number of violations were so high for the right on a red light," Connelly said. "A lot of people were just confused about that intersection."

And they were angry: Shoppers snared as they visited nearby Woodfield Mall vowed to take their business elsewhere. (Marc Strich, the mall's general manager, said he kindly directed shoppers to the Village Hall.) Other motorists complained too. In response, village officials told RedSpeed to stop processing right-turn-on-red violations and only forward ones when drivers turned left on red or went straight through the intersection on red.

RedSpeed did just that until May, when the company told police officials "that because it was so labor-intensive to go through all violations compared to the number sent to us for final approval, they did not feel the time spent by their personnel was justified," wrote Chief Brian Howerton in a June memo, recommending that the village terminate its RedSpeed contract.

By the end of that month, RedSpeed was forwarding only left-turn-on-red violations, which totaled just 12 for all of May. Such a small haul hardly justified the camera and ticketing system, which from start to finish cost the village about $400,000 in fees to RedSpeed.

In that same period, "I would guess the village received about $550,000 to $600,000 net revenue," Fritz said.

Schaumburg officials stated Tuesday night that they terminated the RedSpeed contract because crash data, prepared by the Police Department in June, revealed that the intersection does not have a problem with running-red-light accidents nor did it have one in 2008 when the cameras were installed. That fact angers Brian Costin, president of the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition, a citizens group that campaigned against the cameras last September. "I think Mayor [Al] Larson and the board did not do their due diligence," he said.

Schaumburg getting out of the red-light camera business does not mean Illinois cities are no longer interested in signing up for the systems: On Monday, River Forest's board voted to conditionally hire RedSpeed to install two traffic cameras along Harlem Avenue.

But that board also voted 3-2 to endorse a two-tiered fine structure that would give a break to motorists ticketed for making a rolling right turn on red. Trustee Steve Hoke alluded to recent Tribune stories that found the overwhelming majority of camera-generated tickets were for making illegal right turns on red, even though traffic-safety experts say such infractions rarely lead to serious damage or injuries.

RedSpeed sales consultant Michael Lebert told the board he didn't know whether the company would agree to Hoke's plan, noting that RedSpeed operates cameras for nearly 60 Illinois municipalities, all of which charge $100 per ticket, the maximum allowed under the state's red-light camera law.

He also warned that such a fine structure could pose a technological challenge and lead to errors.

Source: Chicago Tribune

General Motors Corp. plans to exit bankruptcy later this week through the sale of most of its assets to a new entity backed by the Treasury Department.

GM CEO Fritz Henderson said on a company blog posting that the automaker planned to close on the sale after the appeal process is exhausted. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber in clearing the way for the sale of GM's good assets gave opponents until Thursday at noon to appeal and win an additional delay from a higher court.

"We expect the sale to close immediately after the appeal process is exhausted later this week, and for the new GM to be operational and fully competitive, with an exciting line of new products, a smaller and more focused brand portfolio, and a clear mission to put the customer first in everything we do," Henderson said in a blog posting this morning.

The new GM will be known as General Motors Co. and is backed with $50 billion in U.S. government loans.

The Treasury Department will hold 60.8 percent stake in GM, which will be privately held until at least next year, while the Canadian government will hold 11.7 percent, and a UAW health care trust fund will hold 17.5 percent. Unsecured creditors will hold 10 percent of GM.

Source: Detroit News