‘Cash for Clunkers’ trade-in gets more of gas guzzling SUVs

Obama’s administration wanted to get out the dirtiest cars off the roads in America and came up with this idea of “cash for clunkers” scheme where off the 316,189 vehicles that were traded in for the scheme 83% were SUVs and pick-up trucks. This two week old scheme which is being used to revive the auto industry has got cars worth $1,326 million as of today. Six of the top 10 trade-ins were SUVs with two mini-vans and two pick-up trucks. Amazingly there were no sedan cars yet on the list. Well this scheme is not to make America greener but to revive the auto sales. So there is basically nothing environmentally great about this scheme. It will all depend if the people who traded-in will pick another gas guzzler or an eco-friendly car.

Many benefits have been set out by the Obama Administration but environmentalists say that this is very less significant to the environment and also this only for the short term. More over drivers also tend to use the new cars more extensively than the old ones so you can just imagine if another gas vehicle is on the road that is being used 10 times more than the old one that was traded in. It could backfire with more pollution on the roads.
[Guardian]