A grand total of 372,401 new cars were registered through the recently concluded car scrappage scheme.
The scheme was introduced in the 2009 budget and provided a £2,000 discount on the cost of a new car when one over ten years old was scrapped. Government provided half of the discount while the rest was footed by the manufacturer.
Initially a £300m budget was provided allowing for 300,000 discounts but when the pot ran dry late last year the scheme was extended dry late last year by a further £100m after the automotive industry voiced concerns that sales would drop to pre-scrappage levels without the incentive. A deadline of the end of the March has now passed.
“The scheme has provided a hugely important stimulus to the market and leaves industry in far better health than we saw in pre-scrappage 2009,” said Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders chief executive Paul Everitt. “Consumers will also benefit from the improved fuel efficiency, the latest safety features and cleaner tailpipe emissions available from the new vehicles purchased through the scheme.”
In the final month of the scheme registrations through the scheme accounted for 12 per cent of all new car sales. This was a drop of around eight per cent on the typical percentage.
CO2 emissions have been lowered through the scheme too. The average emissions of a car bought through it were 132.9g/km – 27.1 per cent below a scrapped car’s average and 9.6 per cent below the overall new car market average.
82 per cent of cars bought through the scheme had petrol engines, 17 per cent had diesel and the other one per cent run on something else. This can be compared with 58 per cent petrol and 41 per cent diesel for all new cars.
