Interesting article, and a good example of how news papers can use facts to mislead, or at least misunderstand:
Cash for Clunkers Gave Boost to European Diesel Cars - WSJ.com
The WSJ said: "The promotion helped boost total sales of BMW diesels from 305 vehicles in June, before the promotion, to 482 vehicles in August. No, that's not a lot of diesels–just under 2% of BMW's total sales for August."
They also said, "BMW dealers had just eight days' supply of 335d sedans in stock at the end of August, and only 14 days' worth of diesel X5s."
Put the two together and you can see all the BMW Dealers in the U.S. had less than 200 diesel vehicles in total available to sell.
I suspect that if the WSJ had included how many Diesels were ordered with money down in August vs. June, rather than sold, they would see a very different picture as to the impact of the eco-credit. Just the other day the head of BMW NA said on CNBC that they had added 1,000 diesels to the production schedule for 2009 as a result of the promotion.
09-11-2009, 12:44 PM
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