North America a victim of it's own Eco success?

I heard US President Obama said at one time that he US needs to sell $15 million vehicles per year to sustain the auto industry.  Wow, that's a lot of cars. 

I got to wondering that perhaps the government and environmentalists convinced us that we really don't need to buy that car. I sure didn't get a replacement car after my lease ended in 2008. Take the bus, car pool, walk or bike. That must have made some dent towards reducing car sales.

So can North America have it's cake and eat it too? i.e. Don't buy a car, instead take alternative means of transportation to reduce your carbon footprint and reliance on oil, BUT go out an buy a car to help the ailing auto industry.  I think that only works if you plan on parking that new car in a driveway and never driving it.

I just had a idea. Rather than doling out billions in of dollars in bailout cash to the automakers, what doesn't the government order a crap load of replacement fleet vehicles. Workers get new cars, auto orders go up, auto workers and all downstream industries making money. That seems to make everyone happy. Toss in a $5000 tax incentive for domestic car purchases and I might join in too.