[Super83Z]

If this happened here there would be an outrage. Japanese car companies will never be allowed to get close to failing:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...0Twc4jBk&pos=7

Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s version of a “cash for clunkers” program intended to spur auto sales discriminates against imported vehicles, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC said.

Japan’s effort “overwhelmingly benefits the purchase of domestic vehicles over imported ones by making the vast majority of imports ineligible for the program’s significant tax-cut benefit,” the U.S. auto companies wrote in a letter yesterday to the U.S. Trade Representative’s office.

Japan announced a 7.2 trillion yen ($81 billion) economic stimulus package last week that includes an extension of a program giving consumers incentives to buy fuel-efficient cars. No U.S. vehicles are eligible for the tax incentive offered under the plan, while 87 percent of Japanese-made vehicles qualify, the automakers said in their letter.

The Obama administration has raised the issue with Japan, and believes “changes are necessary to give U.S. vehicles greater opportunity to qualify under Japan’s program,” Carol Guthrie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, said in an e-mail.

The program encourages the purchase of energy-efficient vehicles, and both domestic and foreign brands can qualify under the same standards, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said in a fact sheet in September.

A message seeking comment from the media office of the Japanese Embassy in Washington wasn’t returned.

Under the U.S. cash for clunkers program that ended Aug. 24, consumers were offered discounts of as much as $4,500 to trade in older vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient models. The Transportation Department has distributed $2.85 billion under the initiative.

Japanese brands accounted for almost half of the sales under the U.S. cash for clunkers plan, the automakers said.