Cash for Clunkers boosts Cobalt sales

September 1, 2009 at 7:15p.m.

The Cash for Clunkers program boosted sales of the Chevrolet Cobalt in August to its highest monthly total since June 2008.

General Motors said Tuesday that it sold 17,393 Cobalts last month, up 14 percent from the 15,281 sold in August 2008. It was the first time in 12 months that Cobalt sales topped numbers from the same month a year earlier.

The Cobalt is produced at GM’s Lordstown assembly plant.

GM’s small vehicles such as the Chevrolet Aveo subcompact, the Cobalt sedan and Equinox crossover all got a lift from the clunkers program. No GM vehicles made the closely watched list of top-10 Cash for Clunkers sales, but they had the largest market share behind Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp.

The program, which ended on Aug. 24, drew hordes of buyers into quiet showrooms by offering up to $4,500 toward new, more fuel-efficient cars and trucks. The hefty rebates gave automakers and dealers a much-needed lift, spurring 690,114 new sales, many of them during August, at a taxpayer cost of $2.88 billion.

During the first eight months of the year, GM has sold 78,504 Cobalts, which is down 46 percent from the 145,941 that were sold during those months last year.