Washington  - US President Barack Obama could sign an expansion Friday of the popular "cash-for-clunkers" programme, which ran out of money days after being officially launched.

The US Senate late Thursday followed the lead of the lower House of Representatives, which had already voted last week to add 2 billion dollars to what started as a 1-billion-dollar subsidy for carbuyers willing to trade in an older, fuel-guzzling vehicle for a new, more efficient model.

The Senate voted 60-37, overcoming concerns largely from conservative Republicans, who argued that the subsidy was helping disproportionately affluent new-car buyers and, at best, was mostly speeding up purchases that would have happened soon anyway.

The programme is modelled after a German initiative that gives customers money to trade in old petrol guzzlers for cleaner alternatives, boosting sales for the moribund car industry and reducing climate-changing carbon emissions.

Under the US plan, consumers get up to 4,500 dollars toward new cars, based on how much they improve fuel efficiency from their old vehicles. The goal was to take about 250,000 older cars and trucks out of circulation.  (dpa)