Clunker trade-ins to boost July auto sales

DETROIT (Reuters) – The punishing four-year decline in U.S. auto sales may have reached a turning point this week — just as Michael Papa handed over the keys to his 1996 Ford Explorer for a government-sponsored trade-in.

Papa, a Detroit-area restaurant owner, and thousands of other Americans took advantage of the U.S. government’s “Cash for Clunkers” incentive of up to $4,500 to trade in older gas-guzzlers for newer, more fuel-efficient cars over the past week.

The sudden rush of demand at car dealerships long empty of customers quickly exhausted the $1 billion allocated for the program and drove U.S. auto sales to their highest level of 2009, analysts and industry executives said.

Reuters