Alcoa, the world’s leading producer of primary and fabricated aluminum, will expand it’s rolled products plant in Bettendorf, known as Alcoa Davenport Works, to coincide with supply demands from the automotive market. The company is projecting a doubling of its automotive sheet volume by the end of 2013 based on a Ducker Worldwide study of automakers indicating that the industry will increase its use of aluminum from 327 pounds in 2009 to 550 pounds in 2025.

“Consumers want cars that are more fuel efficient and deliver the same, if not better, performance as they are accustomed to today,” said Helmut Wieser, executive vice president of Alcoa and group president of Alcoa Global Rolled Products. “Practically every [original equipment manufacturer] in the world has come to us to discuss how our leading technology solutions can help them make their cars stronger, lighter and more fuel efficient.”

Wieser added that although much of the expansion has already been taken up by earlier secured business agreements with automakers, he continues to see more opportunities for additional future growth.

According to information provided by Gov. Terry Branstad‘s office, the Davenport expansion will create an additional 150 full time jobs once completed, and 150 more temporary jobs during the construction phase. It is expected to be complete by the end of 2013.

The state’s economic development package, offered through the Iowa Department of Economic Development, includes tax, financing and research and development credits as well as training grants for the Davenport workforce and new employees.

“Alcoa has been a great Iowa partner, and we are excited to see this expansion in Bettendorf,” said Branstad. “Their commitment to creating jobs in our state is appreciated, and coincides with my administration’s commitment to economic growth in Iowa.”

President Obama visited the facility in March as part of a roll-out of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, an initiative aimed at encouraging and developing high-tech American manufacturing by bringing together industry, academic and federal officials.

“I see an America where people don’t give up, where people don’t quit. I see companies like Alcoa where reinvention is a part of life,” Obama said in June.

Under the agreement, which also involved 14 states and one tribal government, the company agreed to set aside $773 million to clean up the sites. According to the White House, the agreement will “give local communities the opportunity to participate in designing the strategy for repurposing these properties in accordance with their specific development objectives, using these funds to both properly clean them up and quickly return them to productive use creating jobs and restoring communities.”

That’s precisely what happened.

Roughly 13 weeks after Congress infused $2 billion more into the Clunkers program — and about 10 weeks after the program ended — the Department of Transportation finally unveiled the final figures surrounding the program, posting the details of all 677,000 transactions on its Website. The Associated Press undertook the unenviable task of crunching the data, to discover that the single most popular swap was that of an old Ford F-150 pickup for a new Ford F-150 pickup.

Owners of that pickup were 17 times more likely to buy a new F-150 than, say, a Toyota Prius. The new pickups’ EPA combined city/highway mileage ratings ranged from 15 mpg to 17 mpg, depending on the powertrain and other factors, up 1 mpg to 3 mpg over the old ones.

That’s not to say there wasn’t some environmental benefit to the program. Indeed, the average trade-in vehicle got 15.8 miles per gallon, while drive-away vehicles averaged 24.9 mpg. Still, how much better could those numbers have been if Congress had summoned the guts to pass a slightly different Clunkers bill — one that bumped up the mileage requirements to prevent drivers from trading clunkers for clunkers? As Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), the sponsors of the alternative bill, wrote in The Wall Street Journal in June, the original program was “expertly designed to provide Detroit one last windfall in selling off gas guzzlers currently sitting on dealer lots because they’re not a smart buy.”

Of course, in the end, both Feinstein and Collins voted for the $2 billion extension of that very windfall.

The vote — 60 to 37 — came less than a week after the House approved the same proposal. Senate passage of an identical bill means that drivers can continue receiving between $3,500 and $4,500 to trash their gas guzzlers in favor of vehicles that get better mileage.

Seven amendments to the House proposal were offered on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon, with Democratic leaders, behind Michigan’s influential delegation, successfully urging lawmakers to oppose each proposal, one by one. If any of the amendments had passed, then the entire bill would have required re-approval by House lawmakers, who left Washington last week for August recess. The delay would have left car dealers uncertain when (or if) the funding would arrive, likely stalling the cash for clunkers program altogether.

The impetus for Senate lawmakers to pass the House bill was clear: Though the environmental benefits of the program are slight, the initiative has been a boon to auto dealers and consumers alike. Few lawmakers wanted to return home for the August break to face an angry constituency.

Looking ahead, there are still questions about what would happen if the $2 billion runs out while Congress is on recess. And there remain concerns about how and when that money — which was siphoned from a loan program encouraging the development of green technologies — might be replaced.

But for now, most lawmakers are just breathing sighs of relief that the bill is passed, and vacation has arrived.

President Obama has promised to sign the bill into law as soon as it hits his desk.

Of the $1 billion allocated under the program, $775 million is out the door, catalyzing 184,304 transactions, the department reports.

Six of the top-selling vehicles are foreign, with the Toyota Corolla surpassing the Ford Focus at the top of the list new purchases. The others (in order of popularity) are:  Honda Civic, Toyota Prius, Toyota Camry, Hyundai Elantra, Ford Escape FWD, Dodge Caliber, Honda Fit and Chevrolet Cobalt.

The Transportation Department claims that the average fuel efficiency for the new purchases is 25.3 mpg, while the average mileage for the trade-ins is 15.8 mpg. But the administration is still refusing to release more detailed data surrounding individual transactions.

“I don’t think there’s any reason to go out and change the rules,” he said.

Right. Why change a program that provides $4,500 in taxpayer money to drivers who trade their 14-mpg GMC Sierras for brand new 16-mpg Hummer H3s? So much for the environmental benefits of the program.

The tremendous number of sales in the first week of this program demonstrates that the CARS Act has succeeded in increasing new vehicle sales, but Congress needs this data in order to determine if the fleet modernization program delivered significant fuel economy gains and oil savings.

They have an ulterior motive. Even as Detroit’s defenders successfully pushed through legislation encouraging sales of new gus-guzzlers, Feinstein and Collins were among the critics urging that the purchased vehicles get better gas mileage in order to qualify for the thousands of dollars in cash vouchers. Along with Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), they have sponsored of a more environmentally minded cash for clunkers program.

They lost that fight, but considering the popularity of the program, they might have more leverage the second time around. Indeed, the defenders of the existing program can no longer fall back on the argument that lax eligibility is needed to encourage participation.

Under the program, owners of cars rated at 18 mpg or less in combined highway and city mileage could turn them in for a cash voucher. Buying a new car rated at least 4 mpg higher would earn a $3,500 voucher; a 10 mpg improvement would earn a $4,500 voucher.

Pickups would be eligible as long as the new vehicle has a mileage rating of at least 18 mpg and is at least 2 mpg higher than the old vehicle. A new truck rated at least 5 mpg higher than the turned-in vehicle would earn a $4,500 voucher.

For even larger trucks, the fuel efficiencies of the new purchases must show even less improvement over the trade-in.

The program is expected to cost $4 billion, meaning the $1 billion approved yesterday is just the start. Some Senate Democrats, notably Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), are pushing for stronger fuel efficiency standards for new purchases as a condition of receiving the cash gift. She’ll have her shot the next time the program comes up for a vote, likely at the end of the summer.

[W]hen the federal General Services Administration announced this week that it had spent $287 million in stimulus money to buy 17,205 new cars, it turned out that the biggest beneficiary was the Ford Motor Company, the only one of Detroit’s Big Three automakers that has not received a government bailout.

The General Services Administration, which manages a fleet of 213,000 vehicles for some 75 federal agencies, said it spent $129 million to buy 7,924 Fords; $105 million on 6,348 General Motors vehicles; and $53 million on 2,993 Chryslers.

Like buying Verizon stock, then grabbing an iPhone.