NEWS

SMMT figures for June show new car registrations were up 10.8 percent despite the end of the scrappage scheme.
These figures continue to be ahead of SMMT expectations, says the UK car trade body.
It means new car registrations remain up by nearly 20 percent in the first half of 2010 – which, says the SMMT, strengthens [...]

KIA is recalling 6585 Picanto models to replace the fuel filler neck due to possible damage from road grit.
Some leaks have already occurred, which is why the company is taking action.
Dealers will be seeing owners of Picantos built between November 2009-February 2010.
The 6585 total is a decent proportion of Picanto sales; 7700 were sold during [...]

MINI has contradicted the scrappage rule by posting a sales RISE since the end of the scheme.
Observations that the scheme only benefited small cars have been disproven by the British-produced car’s sales.
That’s despite MINI introducing a special value-priced First model during the campaign, that aligned prices much more closely with mainstream superminis.
UK head of sales [...]

9 in 10 scrappage sales were additional ones that did not pull forward further sales, reveals a new Glass’s report.
The firm has thus called it ‘one of the most successful ever collaborations between car manufacturers and Government’.
Doom-sayers said the scheme would make people who were planning to by a car later in 2010 choose [...]

EUROPEAN car sales fell 6.7 percent in April as scrappage schemes ended across many nations.
Germany’s scrappage scheme ended a while back – Italy’s now has too, meaning both markets have actually started falling.
After its recent success, JATO Dynamics says it is Ford that’s been hit. Sales of the blue oval have not only fallen in [...]

SCRAPPAGE scheme registrations are almost complete as the SMMT announces its latest update.

Total registrations are now 395,500 – tantalisingly close to the 400,000 official total.
Cars make up 388,540 of these, with 6959 LCVs also being registered through the scrappage initiative. This follows the ending of the scheme in March.
SMMT chief exec Paul Everitt said: ‘The [...]

DEALERS are switching to DMS systems to drive additional sales avenues following the end of the scrappage scheme.
Innovative solutions are being sought to fill the gap left by scrappage, and DMS mining is a growing trend.
Pinewood technology says car dealers are applying lessons learned during the scrappage scheme boom here – where they extensively used [...]

RESEARCH into car dealers’ post-scrappage plans has found many car dealers are missing a trick.
Now the successful scheme has finished, car dealers must find other ways to incentivise customers into the showrooms – but some are doing this better than others.
An rts researcher telephoned 50 dealers posing as a potential scrappage customer, with a qualifying [...]

SCRAPPAGE is continuing to impact the new car market with total registrations hitting 372,401 cars.
This was the figure at the end of March, meaning scrappage still accounted for 12.2 percent of new car registrations.
It is good news for the Government, which has been working to ensure no orders get ‘lost’ in the system and actual [...]

CHEVROLET is offering new car buyers a scrappage-like £2k incentive deal for any 6-10 year old motor.
Called ‘Switch and Save’, it comes as the official Government scheme ends – and, as Chevrolet points out, is even more generous.
Running until June 30, it is offered on all models except the Spark and Matiz city cars. [...]