Enthusiasm Builds for Helping a Shift to Fuel-Efficient Cars

WASHINGTON

Similar incentive programs overseas have lifted automobile sales despite the awful economy. In Germany, an offer of about $3,290 for trade-ins helped to increase February car sales there by 21.5 percent from a year earlier, a 10-year high, according to the German Association of the Automotive Industry.

In the United States, the economic stimulus bill adopted in February provides a tax incentive for the purchase of new cars this year, but Mr. Obama said Monday that he supported lawmakers who wanted to take more aggressive steps, offering not just a rebate on the sales tax, but a large cash incentive for trade-ins.

A bill in the House, sponsored by Representative Betty Sutton of Ohio, would do just that, offering incentives to owners who replace cars built before the 2001 model year.

NY Times