For it or against it, Cash for Clunkers had an impact on U.S. auto sales. Now that it's over, everyone is anxious to see how the industry has fared in the wake of the program. No, it isn't pretty, but it isn't as bad as you think, either.

Opponents of Cash for Clunkers argued that the program was simply pulling sales forward and that post-Clunkers sales would be abysmal, while proponents argued that those who took advantage of the program wouldn't have otherwise bought a new car. As often happens in life, the answer is far from absolute.  On the one hand, more brands posted sales increases in September than in pre-Clunkers June or early-Clunkers July. On the other hand, total sales were lower than June, though they typically are at the end of the summer. At least one manufacturer posted an overall sales gain in September as well, which is more than can be said for June. July and August were barely better. For those that fell, though, the fall was mostly painful. It's also worth noting that September 2008 marked the beginning of the economic freefall with the failure of Lehman Brothers, which had an immediate chilling effect on both the economy and car sales. Low-volume (sub-1000 sales) models are also disqualified as their tiny numbers tend to distort the figures.


So, Cash for Clunkers was a mixed bag. Overall impressions out of the way, let's get down to brass tacks and see who won and lost in September 2009. As always, dead brands and those in limbo are excluded as their status tends to reflect poorly on their sales as customers avoid the uncertainty of being able to get their new vehicle serviced. As with previous months, that means Volvo, Saab, Pontiac, Hummer and Saturn (this time for good) are out.

The Domestics

Biggest Winner - Manufacturer: Ford
Ford continues its reign at the top of the domestic manufacturer heap for September, though to be fair, the contest this time around would better be described as "littlest loser." None of the Detroit Three saw an overall sales gain in September, so Ford takes home the gold by only dropping sales by 5.8%. With 109,939 vehicles shipped sans Volvo, Ford's three core brands couldn't outsell GM's four core brands, but at the rate GM's sales are dropping, that may not be a problem much longer.

Biggest Loser - Manufacturer: GM
As alluded to above, September was a nasty month for GM. Total sales dropped 44.9% including the dead/limbo brands. Cut them away and the picture gets even worse. The only good news for the General is that sales of the four core brands, which totaled 141,691, were down a less-depressing 40.6% over core brand sales in September 2008. Middle-finisher Chrysler squeaked out barely ahead of GM, or barely behind, depending on how you look at it. The Pentastar sold 62,197 vehicles for a 42% decline compared to September 2008.

Biggest Winner - Brand: Ford
As goes the winning manufacturer, so goes the winning brand. With a similarly small decline of just 4.1%, the Ford brand was the littlest loser and therefore the biggest winner in September. And as the Ford brand makes up the bulk of FoMoCo's sales, the venerable F-Series trucks make up the bulk of Ford brand sales. While trucks continue to be Ford's bread-and-butter, it's worth noting the strong performance of Ford's second-best selling vehicle, the Fusion, even post-Clunkers. Explorer sales were up, too. Go figure.

Biggest Loser - Brand: Chrysler
If you're looking for proof of the failure of Cash for Clunkers, Chrysler may be it. Or it could just be its aging lineup. After all, August sales were of 23.5% in the middle of C4C. Either way, September was a crushing month for Walter's brand, with sales off 61.25%. So rough was September that Chrysler's namesake brand saw sales dip into quadruple-digit territory with only 9,046 vehicles sold. By way of comparison, Chrysler was outsold by Pontiac (11,079) despite the fact that the Poncho brand is not only dead and no longer producing cars, but trying to clear the last few vehicles off its lots. Oddly enough, though, Chrysler Crossfire sales were actually up despite that model's firm position in the grave.

Biggest Winner - Model: Cadillac SRX
Confirming the drastically revamped SRX's certification as a hit, sales jumped 238% in September to 2,866 units. To demonstrate how far the SRX has come, it's worth mentioning that the model would have been disqualified in September 2008 for selling less than 1,000 units.

Oddly enough, all the big winners for September are vehicles you may not have expected. Every single vehicle that posted an increase in sales for GM was an SUV. The Cadillac SRX, Chevrolet Equinox, and Suburban sales were all up. Even the Tahoe was only off less than 1%. The only vehicles in all of Chrysler's brands to post gains were the aforementioned Crossfire (14 more sales than September '08, but then only 127 total) and the Jeep Grand Cherokee (+23%). Ford had more ups including the Fusion, Taurus, Mustang (barely at 0.1%), Flex, Explorer, F-Series and Mercury Grand Marquis ( the Town Car, oddly enough, was off 54% while the Crown Victoria was down 51%).

Biggest Loser - Model: Chrysler Sebring
With its stay of execution in place, the Sebring rings in as September's biggest loser with sales down a staggering 73% to just 1,451. The bigger story, though, is how many undead models would've been the biggest loser had they not fallen below the 1,000-unit cutoff. Jeep Compass sales were off 90% to just 101, PT Cruiser sales were down 89% to 258 (its termination order, too, has been lifted) and Dodge Caliber sales were down 89% also to just 654.

Worthy of Note:
GM continues to dominate the Muscle Car Wars, selling 7,691 Camaros in September. Following in a distant second, Mustang sales were up 0.1% (or seven vehicles) to 4,917 while Challenger sales dropped 25% to 1,778. On the truck side of things, the Ford F-Series was the only truck to post a gain, up 3.5% to 33,877. Silverado and Sierra sales were off 61.5% to 19,401 and 61.4% to 7,244 respectively while Ram sales dropped 35% to 13,452.

The Asian Automakers

Biggest Winner: Hyundai
On the other side of the Pacific, it wasn't even close. Hyundai posted an impressive 44.78% gain in September and moved 31,511 vehicles, easily unseating August winner and sister company Kia and posting the biggest gain in the industry. That's not to say that Kia sales fell off a cliff, though. Kia sales were number two both in Asia and in the industry up 24.39% to 21,623. It's worth noting, though, that while both Kia and Subaru saw all-time record sales in August, both have seen their monthly sales halved in September compared to August. Still, both managed to post a sales gain with Subaru sales up 0.7% to 14,593.

Biggest Loser: Suzuki
After abdicating the biggest loser title to Acura in August, Suzuki has reclaimed its June and July crown in September. After almost reaching positive sales numbers in August, Suzuki is back to its old, pre-Clunkers habits. Though the sales drop was slightly better than those experienced in June and July, it was still enough of a drop to land Suzuki in last place with a drop of 54% to 1,861 units.

The European Automakers

Biggest Winner: Mini
Is the Clunkers effect lingering? Mini has pulled off an impressive win in September with sales up 9.73% to 4,128 units, just beating out Porsche at 8.44% and 1,581 sales. Parent company BMW came in third up 2.06% to 15,047.

Of special interest is dark horse Volvo. As a matter of fairness, Volvo's sales are disqualified just like Saab's and Hummer's since the brands are all in limbo as their parent companies attempt to sell them off to the highest bidder. While one could make the argument that this instability has hurt Saab and Hummer's already dismal sales, the fact that Volvo posted the biggest sales gain of any European brand at 16.33% has us rethinking its status. 4,716 September sales may not be much, but it's more than Mini or Porsche can claim. What do you think?

Biggest Loser: Mercedes-Benz
This loss is especially tough for the Benz crew, as they're the only European automaker to not post a sales gain in September. Sales were down 9.55% over September 2008 to 16,985 units, a slightly larger drop than August 2009.

Readers may also be interested to know that Mercedes-Benz-owned and Penske-sold Smart cars also took a big hit in September, following their August trend. Sales of the tiny little cars dropped 54.22%, but our low-volume/mercy rule kept them out of biggest loser contention as sales dropped to just 814 units. Is enthusiasm for the little Smarts wearing off? After two straight months of big sales drops, it's certainly starting to look that way.