NEWS

GOVERNMENT officials have confirmed Car Dealer reports that the scrappage scheme was to be extended. The scheme will now run for an extra month and finish at the end of March. Lord Mandelson said this was to allow car dealers ‘more time to prepare for and operate the exit phase of the scheme.’ It will [...]

CAR DEALER has learnt the UK car scrappage scheme is likely to be EXTENDED tomorrow. A number of sources close to the magazine have confirmed the announcement is likely to be made by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills at 9am. Car Dealer understands there will be no extra money pumped into the scheme [...]

SCRAPPAGE shock will be eased if car dealers turn their attentions to profitable opportunities in Motability sales. Car industry consultancy Network Automotive says car dealers are currently underexploiting Motability sales. There is no doubt the end of the scrappage scheme will cause a sudden drop in new car sales, said MD Colin Bruder. However, focusing [...]

RENAULT car dealers can look forward to better returns in 2010 says a director of the firm. Commercial operations boss Len Curran said that, although there will be a retail market decline, Renault dealers will still see an upturn. ‘Renault has targeted a 40 percent sales increase on cars and vans over 2009,’ he told [...]

I WAS just putting the finishing touches to the i10 Banger Race feature when this video popped into my inbox. It’s an early preview of some of the footage we shot for a documentary style film to accompany our feature on the scary event. This was shot on the smaller of our two cameras by two [...]

SCRAPPAGE has been a great success in broadening car dealer opportunities says Peugeot MD Jon Goodman. However, he says that when it comes to an end, Peugeot will look to other creative plans to incentivise cars, rather than launch a self-financed copycat scheme. ‘The scheme has brought people into car showrooms who would not normally [...]

KIA is still on the hunt for new dealers in metro areas including Liverpool, Birmingham and Croydon. Michael Cole, the marque’s UK MD exclusively told Car Dealer, that these inner city areas are proving the hardest to fill – despite interest in the brand blossoming. ‘These locations typically require a large investment,’ he said. ‘But [...]

MAZDA UK MD Jeremy Thomson has praised the official Exit Strategy for handling the end of the scrappage scheme. He said it will guarantee the Japanese brand will get sufficient and fair funding from what’s left of the scrappage pot. What’s more, the Japanese brand has also been planning for the end of scrappage, and [...]

CAR Dealer Magazine has sourced official information on how the final stages of scrappage will operate. Car makers have already agreed they will take part in a 2-phase quota system, to fairly allocate remaining subsidies. Today, BIS has finally revealed the logistics of how this will all work. It points out, too, that it’s a [...]

KIA managing director Michael Cole has said scrappage funds for dealers will have to be rationed. With the last portion of funds due to be divvied up between manufacturers in the dying days of the scheme, carmakers’ next hurdle is to work out how to divide those funds up between their network. Cole said: ‘It [...]

RENAULT reckons the end of scrappage will present a residual effect offering a small market opportunity. The firm’s commercial operations director, Len Curran, has told Car Dealer Magazine he expects scrappage-type deals to continue for the next few months. They will be, Curran explained, from the brands most active in scrappage. He named Korean brands, [...]

SCRAPPAGE has helped Hyundai to such big UK gains that the maker intends to continue success. The firm today thus launches TWO post-scrappage schemes – Trade & Upgrade and Happy Returns. Trade & Upgrade is a generous scrappage-type scheme, that will give owners of cars aged between 7 and 10 years old the same £2000 [...]

OUCH. Why is my body telling me it’s been in a major car accident? Oh… that’ll be because it has. Last night was my debut as a banger racer in a Hyundai i10 and things went, er, not so well. To say I was nervous in the lead up to the race would be a monumental [...]

BUSINESS minister Ian Lucas MP has acknowledged car industry success with the latest UK production boost. ‘The automotive industry has had a difficult year, but industry and Government have taken action to help manage the challenges.’ The results of this can be seen in December’s rise in UK car production, offsetting a yearly total decline [...]

YOU’VE probably seen I’m racing a Hyundai i10 in a banger race this weekend. We’re doing it to mark the end of the UK scrappage scheme and are producing a video of my efforts for the website. While I was trying to think of way to end the film, I had a brain wave. Yes, [...]

YOU soon realise when you’re in the company of geniuses and today was one of those days. We’ve been in Hailsham, East Sussex, at Cecilsrentarookie.co.uk’s workshop preparing our Hyundai i10 for its banger race this Sunday. The workshop is like a giant toy box for grown-up boys. Littering the place were piles of carbs, exhausts, [...]

CONFUSION reigns in the motor industry as to exactly how the end of the scrappage scheme will work. The government announced last week that the last remaining portion of the £400m funds would be rationed and divvied up between manufacturers. But – with less than six weeks to go until the end of the scheme [...]

I CAN take a joke as well as the next man – but the chaps in the office are taking things a bit far. What’s going on? Well, as you may or may not know I’ve stupidly agreed to enter an unsaleable Hyundai i10 in a banger race to mark the end of the scrappage [...]

IS IT just me or does it feel like the year hasn’t even started yet? The recent cold snap seems to be thawing, but what cost has it had on trade? I know we’ve had trouble getting hold of people across the UK since the start of the year. Huge numbers of people don’t seem [...]

MINISTERS are to allocate quotas to car makers for the final funds from the scrappage cash pot. Officials say rebates for less than 82,000 cars remains as the scheme enters its final weeks. The rationing will be based on brand popularity, said business secretary Lord Mandelson. This, he said, will ensure the scheme runs down [...]