Let's see how far we've come...

The German government's approach to helping out the auto manufacturers here is pretty interesting: Instead of simply giving the auto makers billions of dollars in loans, they are offering a 2500 euro rebate to anyone who has a 9+ year old car junked and then buys a new car.  That's a pretty novel approach IMO since it stimulates new car purchases while getting the old, less fuel efficient, less green automobiles off the road at the same time. We happen to have the good fortune of owning two cars that actually qualify so it looks like we're going to be replacing both this year.