You're missing the point. A car is already one of the worst things to put money into. It has no return on investment, but instead negative return. If anything people need to be buying used cars. There's tons of great cars that people just drive around for two years or so, decide they need a new car, and just trade up. Makes no sense to buy a brand new car when there's perfectly good used ones, INCLUDING the ones being traded in for cash for clunkers. It's just putting more and more people in debt by buying things they don't need on credit. If anything it's making the economy worse IMO. And you're right, it's all artificial demand.