【双语阅读】US TO END CASH-FOR-CLUNKERS SCHEME 美国叫停“旧车换现金”计划

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US TO END CASH-FOR-CLUNKERS SCHEME


By Bernard Simon in Toronto 2009-08-21


The US cash-for-clunkers car scrappage scheme has become a victim of its own success, with the government announcing on Thursday that the incentives will come to an end on Monday evening, just a month after they were introduced.

The decision was taken to ensure that payments under the scheme do not exceed the $3bn allocated by Congress.
By Thursday, the transportation department had recorded 457,000 transactions, worth $1.9bn in rebates.

Under the scheme, modelled on similar incentives in Europe, buyers who trade in old vehicles for those with lower fuel consumption receive a rebate of either $3,500 or $4,500, depending on the fuel consumption of the replacement vehicle.

Congress initially earmarked $1bn for the incentives, but added another $2bn two weeks ago in response to the initial surge of applications.

The scheme has been widely hailed not only as a significant boost to the embattled North American motor industry, but also as perhaps the most successful element of President Barack Obama's fiscal stimulus measures.

Several carmakers, including General Motors and Ford Motor, have already stepped up production to replenish depleted inventories.

JD Power and Associates, a consultancy, estimates that the incentives will boost US light-vehicle sales to an annual rate of 12.2m units in August, compared with 9.7m in the first six months of the year.

The scheme has triggered an unexpectedly sharp switch in Americans' car-buying habits.

Small cars and crossovers have dominated the vehicles bought under the scheme.

Early this week, the three most popular models were the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic and Ford Focus, all small sedans.
Meanwhile, all 10 of the most traded-in clunkers so far are sport-utility vehicles, pick-up trucks and minivans.

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美国叫停“旧车换现金”计划

英国《金融时报》伯纳德•西蒙(Bernard Simon)多伦多报道 2009-08-21

美国“旧车换现金”计划已成为自身成功的牺牲品。美国政府周四宣布，此项激励计划将于下周一晚间终止——距该计划推出仅一个月。

美国政府的此项决定，是为了确保该计划的支出不超过国会30亿美元的拨款。

截至本周四，美国交通部已录得45.7万笔交易，补贴金额19亿美元。

根据这项仿效欧洲类似激励措施的计划，以旧车换取更低油耗新车的购车者，将获得3500美元或4500美元的补贴，具体补贴额取决于他们所换新车的油耗。

美国国会最初为此项计划拨款10亿美元，但两周前为了应对换车申请的飙升，国会增拨了20亿美元。

该计划广受赞扬，不仅被视为对困境之中的北美汽车业的一个巨大推动，还被当作美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)财政刺激措施中的也许最为成功之举。

包括通用汽车(General Motors)和福特汽车(Ford Motor)在内的数家汽车制造商已加紧生产，以补充耗尽的库存。

咨询公司JD Power and Associates估计，此项激励计划将使美国8月份轻型车销量升至1220万辆（折合成年率）。与之相比，今年头六个月的销售总量只有970万辆。

该计划引发了美国人购车习惯的转变，幅度之大出人意料。

小型车和跨界车(Crossover)成为该计划下人们购买的主要车型。

本周初，3款最受购车者欢迎的车型是丰田卡罗拉(Toyota Corolla)、本田思域(Honda Civic)和福特福克斯(Ford Focus)，均为小型轿车。

另一方面，在迄今购车者换掉的旧车中，为数最多的10款全部是运动型多用途车(SUV)、皮卡和小型货车。


译者/汪洋