More Than 4,000 Vehicles Bought Under CARS

Just as expected, the Cash for Clunkers program is already showing the first signs of success, with consumers buying more than 4,000 vehicles since Monday when the country officially kicked off the scheme. According to the National Highway Safety Administration, 4,026 vehicles have been purchased with vouchers worth $17,035,500, with dealers registered for the program now totaling 20,564.

On Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rolled out a list of models which are eligible for the scheme, as well as the ones who do not qualify for the program. 86 vehicles qualify and another 78 are excluded, The Detroit News wrote.

"Unlike the previously available mileage data, which was solely intended to guide consumers' vehicle purchases, more precise data is required by the new CARS legislation (to four decimal places)," the EPA said in its report. "Of the 30,000 vehicle model types spanning 25 years, the result of converting to the more precise data needed for the CARS program meant that an additional 86 model types gained eligibility while 78 no longer qualify."

The Car Allowance Rebate System program is scheduled to run until november if the money approved for it hasn't been used by then. Government officials are already thinking to launch a similar initiative next year, but a decision is yet to be made.

"We need to see if it the program is successful. We think it will be," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was quoted as saying by the aforementioned source. "We're going to monitor it every week. We're going to know pretty quickly if we are going to run through the billion dollars or not."