General Motors (GM) Announces Huge Investment At Its Bowling Green's Corvette Plant. We Welcome The Great News.

Announcement by GM is great news for city
By The Daily News

For several years, the General Motors Bowling Green Assembly Plant has experienced some tough times and has laid off employees in large part due to the sluggish economy.

There was even some speculation the plant could be closed, but a breath of fresh air arrived Wednesday with the announcement that General Motors will invest more than $130 million and hire 250 employees at the local plant to produce the next generation of the Chevrolet Corvette.

GM North America President Mark Reuss brought the welcome news to plant employees and reassured the world that the Bowling Green plant is open for business and will be the assembly site where the next edition of the Corvette, the C7, will be built. It will hit dealer showrooms in mid-2013.

Adding 250 jobs at the plant is wonderful news for our community. A Cabinet for Economic Development study shows the number of direct, indirect and induced jobs that will result from GM’s existing and new employment is nearly 1,950. These jobs will provide an annual $222 million boost to Kentucky’s gross domestic product.

Local businesses will no doubt benefit from this expanded operation. It could give a boost to a sluggish real estate market as well.

Losing the GM plant would have been a huge blow to this community. Maintaining a good relationship with the company over the years and providing $7.5 million in tax incentives were especially helpful in keeping the plant open.

We, as a community, are fortunate to have GM here. Not only does the plant provide jobs and help our local economy, the employees at the plant are very active in the community.

For years, GM has run one of the most successful United Way campaigns in the region. They are also involved in a group called Day of Caring and Feed the Need, Junior Achievement, The Salvation Army and many other groups.

One GM employee raised $4,700 for the March of Dimes event last weekend.

Beyond their personal contributions to this community, the announcement by Reuss is one that we welcome and reassures us that the plant will continue to be a valuable asset to this community and to the state.

Editor's note: you can also read more here.

Tax Incentives Spur General Motors (GM) To Build Another Vehicle In Bowling Green.

GM gets tax incentives, might add new vehicle at Bowling Green plant
By Scott Sloan

The General Motors assembly plant in Bowling Green, which has assembled the Corvette since 1981, is being offered state tax incentives to add production of another vehicle there.

General Motors is considering a new vehicle for its Bowling Green assembly plant, and the state government stepped in Thursday to entice it with $7.5 million in tax breaks.

The automaker is mum on what vehicle it might be adding at the plant, which produces Corvettes, but the head of the local union there said he thinks it's the next generation of the Corvette, which GM is expected to begin manufacturing by 2013.

"We've been trying to work with (GM) in order to get the future product ...," said Eldon Renaud, president of United Auto Workers Local 2164. "You never know from one generation to another if you'll get the opportunity to build it."

GM told the state the new vehicle production could mean the addition of 250 jobs that would pay an average of $42 hourly, including benefits. The plant now employs about 500 hourly and salaried workers, said plant spokeswoman Andrea Hales.

"At this time, the company is exploring what incentives might be available for the potential project," she said. "We are making no announcements at this time and have no set time frame to make a decision."

Hales added that other plants are being considered for the new vehicle. She declined to address whether it's the next generation of the Corvette.

GM told the state the investment for the project would be more than $131 million. That was characterized primarily as a refurbishment of the plant, according to state documents.

Renaud said he's been told the plant would need a new body shop to produce the next generation of the Corvette, which has been assembled in Bowling Green since 1981.

The plant's recent history has been rocky, as it has seen employment dwindle from about a thousand. In 2007, a deal between the UAW and GM suggested Bowling Green could see more than 2,000 new jobs as it would build the Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice. But that plan was scrapped in 2009 when the company announced it would discontinue those brands. That year, it also stopped producing its second vehicle, the Cadillac XLR.

The plant, however, survived a wave of closings that affected other facilities.

A condition of the new tax incentives is that if GM picks Bowling Green for the vehicle, it must maintain employment of at least 449 people at the site.

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/03/31/1691431/gm-may-add-new-vehicle-to-bowling.html#ixzz1IDrvOPMD

Federal Government Finds No Electronic Problems With Toyota's "Sudden Acceleration". Watch Video.

And If You Own A Toyota -- Or Like Me You Own Many Toyotas -- Watch The Video And Be Concerned.

And If You Were One Of Those Who Felt Like You Needed To Drive One Of Those Houses On Wheels Called The Hummer, General Motors Confirms That You Have

Update: Toyota Receives Grand Jury Subpoena For Documents.

Toyota receives grand jury subpoena for documents
By DAN STRUMPF and TOM KRISHER

Toyota said Monday it received a subpoena from a U.S. federal grand jury seeking documents related to unintended acceleration in its vehicles and the braking system of its Prius hybrid, indicating a criminal investigation of its safety problems has begun.

The Japanese automaker also said it and its U.S. sales affiliate received the subpoena and a document request from the Los Angeles office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC is seeking documents related to unintended acceleration and Toyota's disclosure policies and practices, Toyota said.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York declined to comment, saying it does not confirm or deny its investigations as a matter of policy. But the subpoena means a criminal investigation is under way, said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit and a former Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer.

Henning said the government could be looking into product safety law violations or whether Toyota made false statements to a federal safety agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, involving unintended acceleration or the Prius braking system, Henning said.

“In their prior submissions, if there were false statements made in there, that could be the basis” for the investigation, Henning said.

In addition, the SEC likely is looking into whether Toyota disclosed all of its problems in required regulatory filings, Henning said. Both agencies could be working together as well, he said.

The subpoenas are the latest demand for documentation from Toyota Motor Corp. Over the weekend, Toyota turned over documents to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, with some indicating it saved money by obtaining a limited recall from regulators in 2007.

Two House committees are holding hearings this week on the Japanese automaker's recall of 8.5 million vehicles since last fall to deal with safety problems involving gas pedals, floor mats and brakes.

Toyota said it received the grand jury request from the Southern District of New York on Feb. 8. It received the requests from the SEC on Friday. It disclosed both requests in a filing with the SEC on Monday and said it intends to comply with the requests.

Toyota Motor Company Boasted In Internal Documents Of Saving $100 Million By Limiting Recalls. Say It Ain't So, Toyota!

Documents: Toyota boasted saving $100M on recall
KELLY OLSEN and KEN THOMAS

TOKYO — Claims by Toyota in internal documents that it saved money by obtaining a limited recall from regulators in 2007 create an even bigger challenge for the automaker's president when he testifies before U.S. lawmakers this week over quality and safety lapses.

Toyota officials said they saved $100 million by successfully negotiating with the U.S. government on a limited recall of floor mats in some Toyota and Lexus vehicles, according to new documents shared with congressional investigators.

Toyota, in an internal presentation in July 2009 at its Washington office, said it saved $100 million or more by negotiating an "equipment recall" of floor mats involving 55,000 Toyota Camry and Lexus ES350 vehicles in September 2007.

The savings are listed under the title, "Wins for Toyota — Safety Group." The document cites millions of dollars in other savings by delaying safety regulations, avoiding defect investigations and slowing down other industry requirements.

The documents could set off alarms in Congress over whether Toyota put profits ahead of customer safety and pushed regulators to narrow the scope of recalls. Two House committees are holding hearings this week on the Japanese automaker's recall of 8.5 million vehicles in recent months to deal with safety problems involving gas pedals, floor mats and brakes.

"You can feel that the staff were thinking more about company profits than customers," Mamoru Kato, an analyst at Tokai-Tokyo Securities, said in an e-mail after viewing the documents. "It's unfavorable for Toyota ahead of the hearings."

The world's largest automaker has been criticized for responding too slowly to complaints of sudden acceleration in its vehicles, threatening to undermine its reputation for quality and safety.

The documents were turned over to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee — which is scheduled to hold a hearing Tuesday — and obtained by The Associated Press on Sunday. The presentation was first reported by The Detroit News.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda is scheduled to testify at a separate House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday.

"This is any executive's worst nightmare — a damning document comes out and exposes your company as having basically gone slow and tried to delay addressing significant safety problems with their product," said Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University Japan.

Toyota said in a statement: "Our first priority is the safety of our customers and to conclude otherwise on the basis of one internal presentation is wrong. Our values have always been to put the customer first and ensure the highest levels of safety and quality."

Company spokesman Paul Nolasco in Tokyo had no further comment, saying only that the company handed over some documents to the committee.

Transportation Department spokeswoman Olivia Alair called the document "very telling. And that's why Secretary (Ray) LaHood has been saying we're going to hold Toyota's feet to the fire and make sure they do what's necessary to make their cars safe for the driving public."

The new documents show the financial benefit of delay. In the presentation, Toyota said a phase-in to new safety regulations for side air bags saved the company $124 million and 50,000 man hours. Delaying a rule for tougher door locks saved $11 million.

On defect regulations, the document boasts that Toyota "avoided investigation" on rusting Tacoma pickup trucks. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigated the case in 2008 but closed it without finding a safety defect. Toyota agreed to buy back certain rusty pickups, inspect other and extend warranties.

The document lists seven "Wins for Toyota & Industry," including "favorable recall outcomes," ''secured safety rulemaking favorable to Toyota" and "vehicles not in climate legislation." Another page lists "key safety issues," including "Sudden acceleration on ES/Camry, Tacoma, LS etc."

In one passage, the document says Toyota "negotiated 'equipment' recall on Camry/ES re SA; saved $100M+, w/ no defect found."

NHTSA had launched an investigation in March 2007 over allegations that floor mats were interfering with accelerator pedals. Toyota told the government a month later that there was "no possibility of the pedal interference with the all-weather floor mat if it's placed properly and secured."

By that August, the government had connected the problem to a dozen deaths and a survey of 600 Lexus owners discovered 10 percent reported sudden or unexpected acceleration. But the recall in September 2007 was limited to 55,000 Camry and ES350 vehicles to replace the floor mats.

The 10-page internal presentation was dated July 6, 2009, less than two months before a high-speed crash near San Diego killed a California highway patrol officer and his family and reignited concerns over sudden acceleration in Toyotas.

In October 2009, Toyota issued its largest-ever U.S. recall, involving about 4 million vehicles, over concerns of pedals getting stuck in floor mats.

The presentation lists Yoshi Inaba, Toyota's chief executive in North America, on its cover. Inaba is scheduled to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday, along with Toyoda and Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales USA. The committee is also expected to hear from LaHood, NHTSA Administrator David Strickland and safety advocates.

The Oversight Committee is holding a hearing Tuesday with Lentz, LaHood and Strickland. A Senate committee is planning a March 2 hearing.

Toyoda arrived in the United States on Saturday and appeared to be preparing for the hearing, the Yomiuri newspaper, Japan's largest, reported Monday. Nolasco, the Toyota spokesman, said the company does not comment on the moves of individual executives, citing security reasons and company policy.

Toyota has said it will create an outside review of company operations, do a better job of responding to customer complaints and improve communication with federal officials.

Toshiro Yoshinaga, an analyst at Aizawa Securities in Tokyo, said that Toyota's actions as seen in the documents shows the company believed the problems with its vehicles were unlikely to become a major issue and illustrate the company's weakness in crisis management.

"Toyota's perception was extremely optimistic," he said. "It's sense of crisis has been lacking."

Yoshinaga also said the documents put the company in a futher bind ahead of Toyoda's testimony.

"But a pinch can also be a chance," he said. "If Toyoda can offer a proper explanation then the issue can settle down. If not, then it won't."

Temple Universty's Kingston said Toyoda must make clear that the company has learned a lesson from growing too quickly and losing track of quality control, though even that will be unlikely to stave off harsh criticism from lawmakers.

"He's going to be taking an awful pummeling, I think," Kingston said.

Continuing The Poke In The Eye,Transportation Secretary, Ray Lahood, Urges Motorists NOT To Drive Affected Toyotas. Watch Video.

Toyota Pokes Itself In The Eye, Takes Appropriate Action; GM, Ford, Chrysler Would Have Pretended Nothing Is Amiss. Watch News Video.

I'm NOT A Volkswagen (VW) Fan, But I Want This Car -- The VW L1 Hybrid. Bring It On! Watch Video.

Why Hyundai Is An American Hit, What GM And Chrysler Can Learn From Its Success.

Why Hyundai Is an American Hit
What GM and Chrysler can learn from its success.
By PAUL INGRASSIA

The leading Korean car company's name rhymes with the first day of the week, as in "Hyundai, Bloody Hyundai." Which is pretty much what the company's competitors are saying to themselves these days about Hyundai's remarkable success over the past few years.

Last year Hyundai's global sales bucked the industry's decline and rose 5% to 4.2 million cars and trucks. Even in the U.S., the world's most competitive car market, Hyundai's sales rose 0.8% in the first eight months of this year, while Ford's sales dropped 25% in the same period and GM's plunged 35%. The major Japanese auto makers suffered declines between 25% and 30%.

Hyundai's success stems from a sustained corporate effort at reinvention—the very same word General Motors is using to describe its mission these days. The Hyundai story should provide GM with a road map.

For years, Hyundai enjoyed a protected home market in Korea. This ensured its prosperity there, but the lack of competition meant the company didn't develop the product quality or consistency to compete effectively in international markets. The result: Hyundai's initial U.S. success in 1986 was undercut quickly by quality problems.

A decade ago, Hyundai acquired Kia, a victim of a mid-1990s shakeout in the Korean auto industry. It also established a new quality-control division charged with boosting reliability by emulating Toyota's vaunted manufacturing methods. To allay lingering concerns over quality, Hyundai put warranties of 10 years or 100,000 miles on vehicles sold in America.

Their campaign began to show results, and the big breakthrough came in 2004, when Hyundai tied Honda for second place in the prestigious J.D. Power & Co. Initial Quality Survey. Also that year, Hyundai completed its first U.S. assembly plant, near Montgomery, Ala.

In 2006, Hyundai topped the J.D. Power initial quality ratings for nonluxury cars, and this year, in January, its first luxury vehcile, the Genesis, was voted car of the year by a panel of journalists at the Detroit Auto Show.

Hyundai has also consistently refined its midsized sedan, the Sonata, making it a credible competitor to the segment leaders, the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord. While not all of Hyundai's models are successful, the new 2010 Kia Soul, a small SUV, has grabbed attention with its funky, boxy styling.

On the marketing front, last January the Hyundai division launched an innovative "Assurance Program" in the U.S.: Buyers return their cars if they lose their job within a year after their purchase. The offer generated buzz and resonated with the public, as Hyundai's recent U.S. sales results demonstrate, even though buyers have turned in fewer than 50 cars under the program, which continues through year-end.

The lessons for General Motors and Chrysler are simple to articulate, though perhaps harder to emulate. The first is to get a handle on quality. Both companies inexcusably have so-so overall quality ratings, although some individual GM models do rank highly.

GM also has had some successful new products in recent years, such as the Buick Enclave crossover SUV and the new Chevy Camaro sports car. But GM hasn't had enough hits to spark the sort of corporate turnaround that Hyundai has enjoyed. Chrysler's product pipeline is bare, waiting to be replenished by Fiat, which took control after Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy.

Both U.S. companies will have to make their marketing more relevant. Hyundai's 10-year warranties and the "Assurance Program" succeeded because they addressed specific customer concerns—the former about the brand's reliability, the latter about the economic environment. GM, at least, is finally doing something innovative—the company just announced a 60-day money-back guarantee in the U.S. for people who buy its cars but find they don't like them. The unprecedented move might improve customer confidence in GM's products.

Global competition in the auto industry is about to enter a brand new phase in which Chinese and Indian car companies likely will gain new prominence. Their emergence won't occur without setbacks, as Hyundai's experience has shown. But the new competitors are sure to pose fresh new challenges to Detroit, the Japanese, the Europeans and, yes, even to Hyundai itself.

Mr. Ingrassia, a former Dow Jones executive and Detroit bureau chief for this newspaper, is the author of "Crash Course: The American Automobile Industry's Road from Glory to Disaster," to be published by Random House in January.

POTUS Barack Obama Set To End "Cash For Clunkers" Program. LAST Chance To Get Yours, Folks.

General Motors (GM) Aims To Vault Over The Competition With Volt Hybrid Car. Watch Video.

FYI: Starting Tuesday, Ebay Teams Up With GM, Chrysler And Ford To Sell Cars Auction Style. Great Idea.

EBay, GM to start car-selling trial Tuesday
BY RACHEL METZ

SAN FRANCISCO - Hundreds of General Motors' California dealers will let consumers haggle over the prices of new cars and trucks through the eBay online marketplace under a trial that begins Tuesday.

About 225 of California's 250 GM dealers are set to take part in the program. They will be selling Buick, Chevrolet, GMC and Pontiac vehicles on cobranded Web sites through eBay Inc.'s online auto marketplace, eBay Motors, until Sept. 8. The cars will also be searchable through eBay Motors and eBay's main site.

Although the companies previously said such a trial was in the works, details weren't released until Monday.

The trial is part of Detroit-based General Motor Co.'s turnaround plan, making more official a practice some of its dealers had already participated in on their own. It expands an existing partnership covering GM certified used vehicles sold through eBay.

It also marks a shift for San Jose, Calif.-based eBay, since most of the vehicles sold on eBay Motors - a site that sells various types of vehicles and auto parts - have traditionally been used.

Starting Tuesday, eBay visitors will be able to visit Web pages like gm.ebay.com and chevy.ebay.com, where they can browse new 2008 and 2009 vehicles, ask dealers questions and figure out financing. Select 2010 models also will be available.

The cobranded sites will also include a Web tool currently on eBay Motors that helps shoppers determine if they're qualified to trade in their old car for money toward a new one under the government's just-refilled "cash-for-clunkers" stimulus program.

Car buyers will be able to choose between the two standard options currently offered on eBay Motors: Negotiating a price with a dealer through the site or purchasing right then at a fixed price. Cars will be picked up at the dealerships.

EBay Motors Vice President Rob Chesney said the companies decided to run the trial in California because there are many tech-savvy consumers there. EBay users who live outside California can contact dealers to see if they're willing to sell and ship vehicles to them, he said.

The test comes a month after GM made an unusually quick exit from bankruptcy protection with ambitions of becoming profitable and building cars people are eager to buy. Once the world's largest and most powerful automaker, new GM is now leaner, cleansed of massive debt and burdensome contracts that would have sunk it without additional federal loans.

GM CEO Fritz Henderson said in July that the company was working on an experiment that would let eBay users in California bid on vehicles or buy them at a fixed price. Dealers were to distribute the cars. At the time, no deal had been completed, though.

Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president of U.S. sales, believes that getting the auto maker directly involved in new online sales will give customers a larger sense of security about buying a car on the Web. Currently, many consumers research new cars online, but most still go down to a dealer to make the actual purchase.

He's hoping it generates more interest in GM vehicles in California - a market he said the company needs to improve in.

For eBay, the program fits in with its strategy of growing its market for goods that are still new but not necessarily the latest models. It's also a chance to get more people interested in making new, large purchases on a site whose past is steeped in the sale of hard-to-find collectibles. The sale of used cars on eBay is already proof that consumers are getting more and more comfortable buying higher-priced items online, Chesney said.

"New cars are like the next frontier of that," he said.

The companies would not give financial details of the deal, but GM spokesman John McDonald said it is an arrangement that they think will be profitable for both firms.

If the companies feel the trial is successful, they want to expand it across the country. Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay marketplaces, said eBay may eventually try doing the same thing with other auto makers, too.

Inder Dosanjh, a Dublin, Calif.-based dealer who owns four GM dealerships and currently sells used cars on eBay, said the program shows GM is trying to step outside the box and find new ways to sell cars. He plans to list all his new inventory on eBay this week.

"I think they should have done this a long time ago," he said.

Louisville Courier Journal Weighs In On "Cash For Clunkers", Urges More Funding. Where Do You Stand On The Issue?

Fund more rebates

The U.S. Senate should not take its four-week recess without approving more money for the wildly popular “cash for clunkers” auto rebate program. The House approved additional funding by a 3-to-1 margin. Senators should not be stymied by obstructionism from doing the same — although it appears they may do just that, led, predictably, by Sen. Mitch McConnell.

The program was and is a good idea for several reasons: It provides customers up to $4,500 rebates when they turn in their gas hogs for more fuel-efficient cars. It provides a jumpstart in sales for America's auto industry. And both those efforts put all of us on the road to economic and environmental recovery sooner, rather than later.

Incredibly, the program is being knocked by Mr. McConnell and others precisely because it is so successful. They complain that the initial $1 billion for the program was supposed to last several months but has been snatched up by grateful consumers much sooner than that. Also, other senators, such as Kentucky's Jim Bunning, say they object to selectively helping some industries while allowing others to flail or fail.

These are not serious arguments, especially in light of the number of cars the “cash for clunkers” program has produced.

A Courier-Journal news article reports the program produced a 60 percent increase in weekly new car sales in the days after its July 24 launch, with Ford's fuel-efficient Focus being the top-seller.

As George Pipas, Ford's chief sales analyst, told the Associated Press, “I think probably this is the greatest one-week energy conservation program that may have come out of Washington or anywhere else.”

So why stop now?

The Senate can do the right thing and enact a $2 billion extension for this popular program for all the right reasons. It should do just that by Friday's scheduled recess.

Editor's comment: as for me, I still can't find a raeson to "knock" the program, can you?

Senate Republicans Are Balking At Renewing "Cash For Clunkers". What Do You Think?

Senate Republicans aren't buying 'cash for clunkers'
David Lightman

WASHINGTON — Republican opposition is stalling Senate efforts to keep the popular "cash for clunkers" program alive.

The program, which gives consumers who trade in old gas-guzzlers for more fuel-efficient models as much as $4,500 each, is likely to end by the weekend unless the Senate approves additional funding.

Senate Republican leaders railed against it Monday, calling the program a model of government inefficiency and out-of-control spending. The program originally got $1 billion, but all but exhausted that funding last week, its first. The House of Representatives approved another $2 billion on Friday, but the Senate's balking.
"We were told this program would last for several months. As it turned out, it ran out of money in a week, prompting the House to rush a $2 billion dollar extension before anybody even had time to figure out what happened with the first billion," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

President Barack Obama plans to meet with Senate Democrats Tuesday at the White House to discuss several issues, including keeping "cash for clunkers" alive.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs explained the stakes: "If it doesn't happen this week," he said of Senate action, "it's unlikely that we'll make it to the weekend with a program that can continue."

It's easy for a small group of senators to exploit Senate rules to delay action.

Republican senators are trying to tie the car program's troubles to controversial proposals to overhaul health care and Obama's stewardship of the economy.

"There's a pattern here, a pattern that amounts to an argument — and a very strong argument at that: when the administration comes bearing estimates, it's not a bad idea to look for a second opinion," McConnell said.

While the auto program appears to be popular, polls show rising public wariness of big free-spending government, and Republicans are seizing that political ground. In the July 22-26 Pew Research Center survey, Obama's approval rating dropped 7 percentage points since June to 54 percent. The public's approval of his handling of health care, the economy and the federal deficit also dropped significantly.

As a result, it's unclear if people will see an extension of cash for clunkers as another example of worrisome big government expansion or of government responding helpfully to an important need, said Michael Dimock, a Pew Research Center associate director.

"We just don't know," Dimock said.

Brad Coker, the managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research in Jacksonville, Fla., said he thinks people could make the connection.

"Management of cash for clunkers does call into question how all these other government programs are being run," he said. If things go badly, people could see the clunker program as another reminder that "Obama's never run anything," Coker said.

The GOP is convinced that it can get some political mileage out of stalling. Under Senate procedures, Republicans can delay the bill until at least Thursday, and perhaps longer, even if senators are able to cut off a filibuster.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., the Senate's second-ranking Republican, said Monday that "I don't care about the political risk. I'm concerned about the process and about how the government is going to pay for this . . . $4,500 is a lot of money to give somebody to buy a car who was already going to buy a car."

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood pushed back hard on Monday, appearing on TV talk shows and sending senators a "fact sheet" claiming that the program had "succeeded beyond anyone's expectations."

Among its boasts: The average fuel economy of new vehicles bought under the program is 25.4 miles per gallon; the average mpg of trade-ins was 15.8, a 61 percent improvement. The change should save the typical consumer between $700 and $1,000 annually in gasoline costs.

In addition, 47 percent of new cars are from the hard-pressed Big Three U.S. automakers. The best-selling car in the program is the Ford Focus.

The program's success so far won over some initially skeptical senators on Monday. Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, had said it should do more to promote the purchase of fuel efficient vehicles, but after seeing the Transportation Department data, they said that they'd back additional funding.

"The good news is that, after seeing the figures so far, I believe the best solution is to continue and extend the program as it is," Feinstein said.

Helping the lobbying blitz is the National Automobile Dealers Association, which sent a "legislative alert" to its members.

"It is critical that you contact your senators and urge them to support the cash for clunkers provision without amendment," the NADA alert said.

POTUS Barack Obama Speaks On "Cash For Clunkers". Better Get Yours Before We Run Out Of Ca$h.

"Cash For Clunkers" Program Goes Bust. Watch Video.

General Motors (GM) Emerges From FORCED But Needed Bankruptcy, & I Expect The Auto Manufacturer To Build The World's Best Autos. I Can't Wait. Watch.

The United Staes Senate Joins The House In Passing "Cash For Clunkers" Bill. Here's Your Chance To Buy That Newer Car, Folks. Watch News Video & Read.

Read more here, and watch the news video below: