Edmunds.com Final Tally: Cash for Clunkers Buys, Trades; Ford Focus No. 1 Buy
By Michelle Krebs September 18, 2009Edmunds.com has completed its final tally of the most popular vehicle purchases and most 
frequent trade-ins under the Cash for Clunkers. The Ford Focus held its No. 1 spot as the favorite buy; the Ford Explorer remained the No. 1 trade-in.
Indeed, the top 10 lists in both categories wound up little changed from the early scoring on Edmunds.com's lists.
And, in fact, many of the top clunker buys are the industry's bestsellers in non-clunker times. Eight of the 10 vehicles on the top 10 clunker buy list are also in the top 10 for the year so far in total; only the order is changed.
Two vehicles rose significantly in the rankings, however. The Ford Escape jumped to 3rd place from 12th place during the Cash for Clunkers program. The Hyundai Elantra soared to the No. 10 spot for favorite clunker buys from its typical No. 21 position.
Eight of the 10 were small to midsize cars or small SUV/crossovers. Still, two of the top 10 were the nation's most popular pickup trucks all of the time, the Ford F-150 and the Chevrolet Silverado. Both Ford and General Motors have improved the fuel economy of its trucks, which made them eligible as clunker buys.
As was evident in the early going of the program in late July, Ford Honda and Toyota dominated the top 10 clunker buys list. Toyota and Honda were expected to benefit from the program. Ford and Hyundai were the more surprising beneficiaries.
Top 10 Clunker Buys
|
MAKE |
MODEL |
Share |
Sales Rank for 2009 |
|
Ford |
Focus |
3.40% |
9 |
|
Honda |
Civic |
3.30% |
4 |
|
Ford |
Escape |
3.30% |
12 |
|
Ford |
F-150 |
3.10% |
3 |
|
Toyota |
Camry |
3.10% |
1 |
|
Toyota |
Corolla |
3.10% |
5 |
|
Honda |
CR-V |
2.50% |
8 |
|
Chevrolet |
Silverado 1500 |
2.40% |
6 |
|
Honda |
Accord |
2.30% |
2 |
|
Hyundai |
Elantra |
2.30% |
21 |
Source: Edmunds.com
The Top 10 clunker trade-ins were all domestic brands: Ford (3 Ford, 1 Mercury); General Motors (Chevrolet - 2); Chrysler (2 Jeep, 2 Dodge). With the exception of three models, all were SUVs or pickup trucks extremely popular in the 1990s. The remainder were two minivans -- also extremely popular in the 1990s -- and one full-size car -- the Mercury Grand Marquis.
Top 10 Clunker Trades
|
Make |
Trade |
Share |
|
Ford |
Explorer |
9.90% |
|
Ford |
F-150 |
8.40% |
|
Jeep |
Grand Cherokee |
6.10% |
|
Chevrolet |
Blazer |
4.10% |
|
Jeep |
Cherokee |
3.70% |
|
Chevrolet |
C/K 1500 Series |
3.60% |
|
Ford |
Windstar |
2.80% |
|
Dodge |
Ram Pickup 1500 |
2.80% |
|
Mercury |
Grand Marquis |
2.00% |
|
Dodge |
Grand Caravan |
2.00% |
Source: Edmunds.com
The government's Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) used a different method of calculating the bestsellers than did Edmunds.com, breaking down vehicles into drive configuration and such instead of counting them as a single nameplate as Edmunds.com's list does. -- Michelle Krebs, Senior Analyst/Editor at Large
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