It's still far from a sure thing, but President Barack Obama's support has helped the so-called "cash for clunkers" bill pass the U.S. House of Representatives; it proposes to give American car buyers between $3,500 (U.S.) and $4,500 for their older vehicle.
The U.S. plan has made the Canadian government's meek scrappage offer of $300 seem even meeker, if that's indeed possible.
The American plan is likely to be tweaked and prodded in the Senate, but it is envisaged to offer government money to new-vehicle buyers for a year. By offering a significant payback for a little mileage improvement, and an extra $1,000 for a major fuel economy increase, it's seen as a public "turbo boost" for the industry, and it's far-reaching supplier and dealer sub-industries.
The definitions of minor and "major" improvements are different for cars and thirstier trucks, but under these proposed rules, there will be $3,500 cheques available for pickups that average at least two miles per gallon better than the old one, even if that new one only manages 15 mpg (15.7 litres/100 km).
Given that the Canadian and Ontario governments have matched pretty much every auto aid program implemented in the United States with proportional dollars - GM and Chrysler bailouts, auto loan financing aid, warranty guarantees, parts supplier aid - officials here are watching the progress of such a program closely.
Similar recent programs have helped boost car sales in Germany and other European countries, and the extension of the offer to new-car sales of all brands has made it more palatable to European and Japanese dealers and manufacturers, as well as their host countries.
Ford of Canada's president David Mondragon said again this month that the only way he would re-evaluate his estimate of a 13 to 15 per cent sales decline in the Canadian market this year is with the implementation of such a program.
"We're hoping a scrappage program could bring about 100,000 incremental sales in Canada and claw back really half of the decline on a year-over-year basis," he said last week.
The Canadian government says it's watching the situation in the United States, but is waiting to see what finally becomes law.
Hyundai tops rankings
of auto maker websites
Not only are Hyundai Canada's sales defying the sour overall Canadian car market - increasing by more than 20 per cent so far in 2009 - J.D. Power says its consumer website is the best in Canada.
Making the results truly remarkable is that Hyundai Canada was ranked dead last in last year's J.D. Power annual website survey. A site redesign half way through last year allowed the South Korean manufacturer to just squeak ahead of Toyota by a single point on a 1,000-point scale; Mazda Canada was a close third.
The lowest score this year went to Honda - with 777 points out of - while no Detroit-based brand scored above the industry average of 802, unless you count Sweden-based, but Ford-owned, Volvo.
The study polled 2,168 online shoppers in April who indicated they were in the market for a new vehicle in the next 12 months, and scored the auto maker site just visited for overall visitor satisfaction in various areas, including information/content, speed of page loading, ease of navigating and appearance of the web site.
"Making critical information, such as pricing and vehicle specifications, immediately accessible is more important than adding extra bells and whistles, like videos or simulated test drives, which can be useful but tend to slow down the speed at which the pages load," said Ryan Robinson, senior manager of automotive research at J.D. Power and Associates.
Although the survey was based on a decent sample size, if you look at the results, you have to wonder why many fairly significant players didn't make the list.
