NEWS

SWAPPAGE is taking over scrappage at Toyota car dealers as the Government supported scheme comes to an end. It means Toyota car buyers can STILL get a £2000 saving on the price of eligible new Toyotas! What’s more, it’s even better than scrappage, says Toyota. Cars aged between 7 and 10 years old are eligible [...]

KIA this week clubbed together its dealers to reveal plans for driving sales forward in a post-scrappage 2010. At a conference for the marque’s 143-strong franchise network, Kia top brass explained they wanted dealers to focus on sales processes now scrappage is coming to an end. With 50,000 Kias finding homes last year – a [...]

THE SMMT says the scrappage scheme has now notched up nearly 290,000 sales  – but has momentum dwindled? With new car prices rising across the board in recent months and VAT back up to 17.5 per cent, enthusiasm for the scheme with consumers maybe over. Back in October the industry feared the original £300m would [...]

FLEET experts are expecting car firms to begin a company car charm offensive to drive 2010 sales. The BVRLA says that, without scrappage, it will be hoped fleets will pick up the slack. Indeed, there could be a double bonus for car firms and dealers. Whereas scrappage sales have driven small, cheap cars, fleet buyers [...]

FORD Fiesta buyers have voted the supermini best car of 2009 by buying it in greater numbers than any other new car. SMMT figures show the Fiesta is way ahead of the rest, with 117,296 sales. Bosses at Ford are celebrating further too, as the Focus came out in 2nd place overall in the new [...]

CAR buyers would rather VAT was held at 15 percent instead of the scrappage scheme being further extended. Motorpoint has surveyed more than 1500 car buyers and found that most don’t want VAT to go back up to 17.5 percent. The Chancellor is expected to raise VAT back up in today’s Pre-Budget Report. The change [...]

SCRAPPAGE registrations have smashed the quarter-million mark after snaring a fifth of November sales. 21.6 percent of motors registered in November were under the scrappage scheme. This means the impact of it remains huge, said SMMT chief Paul Everitt. ‘Scrappage continues to have a positive impact on vehicle registrations, contributing to the 57.6 percent increase [...]

FORD once again topped the November new car sales chart with the Fiesta easily beating the next-best. Which, as luck would have it, was also a Ford – the Focus! The November performance marks the 9th month in 2009 that the Fiesta has topped the charts. Total Fiesta sales stand at 109,420. Again, the Focus [...]

VOLVO says it will become the first premium brand to sell more new cars in 2009 than it did last year. New car sales to date stand at 31,393… with 2008’s year-long total of 31,655 in clear sight! This will also see the brand exceed its Q4 sales target of selling more than 10,000 cars… [...]

ENGLISH Ford in Poole has a scrappage deal waiting for a driver who crashed right outside its premises! The Ford main dealer’s security barriers luckily ensured only 1 car will be scrapped – the driver’s classic Renault Clio 16v. What’s more, in an example of PR brilliance, the car dealer has just released images of [...]

SCRAPPAGE car ORDER figures are set to change due to Government officials cleansing their data… However, car dealers are unlikely to see any impact on their own stats – because the industry looks at car SALES for its data! Reports in several newspapers suggest that figures have been skewed because some scrappage cars have been [...]

MOTORPOINT remains strongly against the scrappage scheme, despite calls by the CBI to extend it again. CBI director Richard Lambert wants to see the Government inject more cash into it, in order for it to carry on beyond February 2010. Motorpoint, however, considers this ‘an outrageous abuse of taxpayers’ money.’ MD David Shelton points to [...]

FORD continues to lead the UK scrappage sales chart and has just recorded its 30,000th scrappage sale. Dave Quick bought a Ford Transit van, meaning Ford has now sold 1100 CVs through scrappage. Hendy Ford sales manager David Graham said ‘Dave Quick is one of a number of business people trading up to new Ford [...]

CAR production in the UK has continued to improve thanks to the ongoing sales-driving boost from scrappage. The year-on-year decline remains down, but by the smallest rate of the year. Year-to-date, car production is down 38 percent – but for the month of October, this figure was cut to just a 6.7 percent decline. However, [...]

HYUNDAI has listed the rare scrappage Morris Minor on eBay after Car Dealer Magazine reported the story. The car firm not only saved the Morris from the scrapper, it is also agreeing to donate all the eBay auction funds raised to Children In Need! Generous Hyundai boss Tony Whitehorn sanctioned the deal, after Chelmsford Hyundai [...]

BMW Group UK MD Tim Abbott says the Government’s scrappage scheme is ‘an opportunity missed.’ Speaking at the firm’s annual press dinner, he said BMW was ‘disappointed with its structure.’ Referring to the lack of green targets, he noted ‘there was a real opportunity to link the financial support to encourage the purchase of more [...]

KING of scrappage Hyundai has given a historic car chopped in under the scheme a stay of execution! Hyundai UK and its Chelmsford dealer simply couldn’t bring themselves to scrap a 1098cc Morris Minor Traveller offered for scrap by a customer. The buyer wanted to crush the classic, 77,000-mile car – which was registered in [...]

CLASSIC FM listener Chris Flynn was the lucky winner of a Subaru Legacy in a competition 11 years ago. More than a decade on, it’s time to change – and this time he’s paid for his new car. What’s more, it’s a Subaru car dealer that’s finally got him to open his wallet! Derek Slack [...]

SCRAPPAGE incentives are widely being credited as the driving force behind recent new car sales rises. However, the SMMT has just released data, showing that October sales would have gone up even without scrappage The market would have risen by 3.9 percent over 2008 levels – less than the actual scrappage-boosted 31.6 percent figure, but [...]

SCRAPPAGE incentives will not only save lives, but also save the Government millions of pounds, say experts. The IAM says the scrappage scheme has helped put lots of Euro NCAP-starring new cars on the road. These have replaced old bangers, which often lack ABS, airbags, traction control or other safety measures. Which will, says IAM [...]