WASHINGTON AND LOS ANGELES — "Cash for clunkers" will live on, but shoppers in the weeks ahead may have a hard time finding that fuel-efficient ride they've been craving since the program got underway.
The Senate voted 60 to 37 to approve $2 billion in additional funding Thursday, ending a weeklong scramble to keep the popular auto rebate initiative from running out of money. That could subsidize the purchase of half a million vehicles and provide a further boost to the sagging auto industry.
Heavy demand is already leading to scattered shortages of some hot-selling vehicles, such as the Toyota Prius, Ford Focus and Dodge Caliber. Chrysler Group and General Motors Co., which shut down many of their factories for several weeks this summer to save money and reduce inventories, have been particularly affected.
"Business had slowed so much that a lot of dealers had reduced their inventories because it was expensive to hold on to," said Jerry Key, general manager at Capistrano Ford. "But now that we've had this surge in business, there's going to be holes in the inventory."
The prospect of $3,500 to $4,500 in government cash to trade in a gas guzzler for a more fuel-efficient vehicle has had customers jamming showrooms in Southern California and nationwide since the program began July 24. Now, the Obama administration said, the money should last through Labor Day.
That has consumers cheering.
"This is the first piece of legislation Congress has hit out of the park in terms of something that can help the average person like us," said Evin Grant, a 32-year-old filmmaker who was doing a clunker deal at Toyota of Hollywood as the Senate vote was tallied.
"It's a triple threat: It helps out the economy, it helps consumers like us get into a vehicle we wanted but had no easy path to earlier, and it helps the environment by getting horrible gas guzzlers off the road," Grant said.
Senate supporters of the program beat back attempts, largely from Republicans, to make changes that would have effectively suspended it for a month if not killed it altogether.
"The reality is this is a program that has been working," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who called cash for clunkers "the most effective stimulus we have passed this year."
