NEWS

SCRAPPAGE sales accounted for 21 percent of all new car sales in July, come latest figures from the SMMT. 33,026 cars were sold under the new car scrap scheme, with the vast majority of these being private sales. It marks the first growth in new car sales in well over a year. So far, the [...]

HYUNDAI’S sales drive continues – with an unprecedented top-10 position in the SMMT sales charts. Even better, take out fleet and business sales, and Hyundai is actually NUMBER 2 in private sales! This, naturally, has delighted the firm’s MD, Tony Whitehorn. ‘July 2009 marked a real milestone for Hyundai. ‘Our long-term plan was always to [...]

CAR dealers are now feeling the positive benefits of the new car scrappage scheme, reports the RMIF. Director Sue Robinson said that there were ‘thousands of cars bought by consumers via the scheme now on the road.’ In saying scrappage is responsible for the positive boost, Robinson is confirming the views of many in the [...]

SCRAPPAGE must be extended if a ‘collapse in revenues for car makers and dealers’ is to be avoided. Glass’s is warning the Government that the scheme has to run until next summer – or there’s the risk of a big, highly damaging plunge in new car sales. Car Dealer Magazine has already reported that booming [...]

SKODA says that 9 in 10 customers buying cars on scrappage are new to the brand, in a conquest sales boost. 4500 Skodas have been ordered through the scheme, and nearly 2000 have been delivered. But it’s the scrap cars that have been taking Skoda car dealer’s eyes. These range from a Trabant to a [...]

FIGURES released today show the scrappage scheme is nearing the half-way mark – four months after launch. Latest stats from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills show that 144,308 new car orders have been placed under the scheme. The Government has stated that the total amount of funding is for 300,000 cars – this [...]

SCRAPPAGE car buyers in America have exhausted the $1bn cash allocation – just a week after launch! A massive rush by US buyers to sign up for the scheme has caused a deluge at car dealers across the country. 16,000 car dealers signed up for the scheme, which offered buyers up to $4500 off new [...]

VERTU Motors has announced profits well ahead of estimates – thanks to the impact of the scrappage scheme. The extra earnings come despite volume growth remaining average. Money instead has been made from improving margins – an announcement that sent the share price rising by well over 7 percent. Buyers have been choosing used cars [...]

HYUNDAI has officially hit back at Ford, over scrappage figures the big blue oval released last week. Ford put Hyundai’s nose out of joint, by claiming it ‘leads the way with 14,000 orders to date.’ Now Hyundai’s hit back, by confirming – as revealed by Car Dealer Magazine yesterday – that Hyundai car dealers have [...]

HYUNDAI has this weekend recorded its 10,000 scrappage new car order – for a single model alone! The 10,000th scrappage i10 model was sold by a UK car dealer on Saturday. This brings Hyundai’s total scrappage sales to a staggering 17,200 – giving it, according to SMMT estimates, nearly a 15 percent share of the [...]

53 percent of UK car dealers have seen sales rise in the first half of 2009, reveal new Manheim findings. For 72 percent of dealers, it’s been the scrappage scheme that’s led to the sales boost – and nearly half reckon the positive boost is set to continue. This is despite a majority of dealers [...]

SCRAPPAGE sales hot buyers can now be targeted directly, with a new service from The Trading Floor. It is the only data provider, says the firm’s boss, to offer information tailored exactly to those eligible for the scrappage scheme. The company offers the service as an extension of its motor insurance requirement data. This spans [...]

MINI has finally taken the wraps off its much-rumoured stripped-out entry-level hatch model – keen price and all. The First will cost £10,950, meaning that, with scrappage, MINI now offers a model for less than £9k. It’s fitted with the 75hp 1.4-litre engine, which averages 53mpg and meanders to 62mph in 13.2 seconds. It does, [...]

MOTOR industry expert Nice 1 Ltd has analysed the latest scrappage data – and given its judgment. The firm reveals the UK’s top 10 selling brands have accounted for 86 percent of all scrappage sales so far. There have been, to the end of June, 29,796 scrappage deals – that’s 3.22 percent of UK sales to [...]

CAR buyers are choosing smaller cars, due to economic and environmental pressures, plus scrappage incentives. JATO Consult has clear evidence of the trend, following an extensive study into the market. Car manufacturers are responding to such downsizing by offering higher-specification models, in order to retain profit margins for car dealers. Buyers switching from larger models [...]

33% of car owners would like to use the scrappage new car buying scheme – but their car is ineligible. This, says insurers Swiftcover, suggests that many car buyers have been caught out by the scheme’s restrictions after visiting car dealers. The number is much more significant than the mere 4 percent of owners who [...]

MAZDA has upped its scrappage deals for the second half of 2009 – with a real haeadline-grabber. The Japanese firm will add £5000 to the £1k Government scrappage allowance on the RX-8 R3, bringing the price down to just over £18k. What’s more, the maker has rolled out extra savings on other models in its [...]

HYUNDAI has brought sporty style to the scrappage deal sector – with a bargain-priced Coupe. It has cut £5035 off the list price of its two-door Coupe, bringing the price down to £12,995. But, for scrappage-eligible customers, this is further cut, to £11,995! That’s despite it being a 2.0-litre model, with leather seats, 17-inch alloys, [...]

FORD has posted its first year-on-year sales increase in almost a year, thanks to the scrappage scheme. The long-awaited sales turnaround saw Ford dealers sell 29,8000 cars in June. In the same period back in 2008, they sold 28,657 motors. As the overall new car market is down, this means Ford’s market share has rocketed [...]

SCRAPPAGE is still some way off revealing its true positive boost to new car sales, say car dealers. The RMI reports that the SMMT sales figures for June are positive – but car dealers can expect even more gains in coming months. ‘The true impact of the vehicle scrappage scheme will be felt over the [...]