It’s working in Germany, France and Italy and now it’s being considered in the UK and US. Should we all be scrapping our old vehicles for new ones to jumpstart the industry?
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It’s working in Germany, France and Italy and now it’s being considered in the UK and US. Should we all be scrapping our old vehicles for new ones to jumpstart the industry?
It’s the biggest rise in car sales since 1992 in Germany, where drivers get 2,500 euros for trading in a car more than nine years old. It’s so successful, in fact, that 900,000 motorists signed up for the deal when the VDA automobile federation was only expecting 600,000.
Car sales recently rose strongly in France and Italy and the rate of declining car sales has slowed considerably in Spain.
The plan accounts for a 40% rise in sales in Germany, at a time when auto sales in the States are down 45% from this time last year.
Now NY’s Senator Charles Schumer is rallying the call for a similar plan to be launched in the US, except he’s taking more of an environmental angle, as newer vehicles are so much more fuel efficient than older vehicles.
And in the UK? “Measures to help revive new car sales in the UK, including the introduction of a vehicle scrappage scheme, must be enacted as soon as possible,” says Paul Williams, Chairman of the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMIF), which represents 8,000 retail motor sector businesses that sell new and used cars.
He added: “The RMIF will be presenting Government with a framework outlining how vehicle scrappage could work in practice. The paper will be delivered to Government in the next few days.”
The RMIF has been lobbying in Westminster since November 2008, calling for a vehicle scrappage scheme to be introduced. (Don’t you love how the British use the word “scheme?”) Stay tuned. We’ll keep you posted as to how this works out on both sides of the pond.
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