Scrappage scheme continued to boost car market
The automotive industry is a vital part of the UK economy with £51 billion turnover and £10 billion value added. With over 800,000 jobs dependent on the industry, it accounts for 10% of total UK exports and invests £1 billion each year in R&D. In the last ten years, huge strides have been made to reduce the environmental impact of its products throughout the life cycle. Improvements in production processes mean energy used to produce cars is down 24%, water use is down 45% and 57% less waste enters landfill sites. Average car tailpipe CO2 emissions have also been slashed and are down 20% compared to 1999 levels.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the car market was up in January, despite the cold snap and VAT rise.
* New car registrations rose by 29.8% in January to 145,479 units.
* Market rose for a seventh successive month.
* Scrappage scheme continued to boost market, accounting for 17.8% of sales, despite return to 17.5% VAT on 1 January.
* Outlook constrained, demand expected to fall 9% to 1.82 million units in the full year.
“The 29.8% increase in January new car registrations provides a better than expected start to 2010 for the UK motor industry,” said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. “Scrappage continues to lift demand successfully and today’s announcement of a continuation of the scheme to the end of March will allow the maximum number of people to benefit from the budget that’s still available.
“Industry expects another difficult year with the availability of finance, consumer confidence and sustaining demand post-scrappage, key to performance in the second half of the year, but signs of recovery in the fleet and business sectors are encouraging,” he concluded.
Market continues to grow, but outlook constrained as scrappage scheme to close
* The pace of growth in new car registrations was strong in January, up by 29.8%, and posted a seventh consecutive monthly gain despite the cold weather and the VAT increase which pulled some registrations into the end of 2009.
* The January 2010 market was 16,618 units short of the January 2008 figure but remained up on January 2009 by 29.8% due to the severity of last year’s decline.
* The scrappage scheme remains a positive influence on consumer demand and its continuation into March will ensure that the maximum number of people can benefit from the budget available. Scrappage will now last until the end of March or when the money runs out, whichever is the sooner. As the impact of the scheme subsides the market is expected to slow to 1.817 million units over the full year – the lowest level since 1993. Volumes are expected slowly to recover to over two million by 2012.
* The January market was again primarily supported by improved private registrations, although the growth in fleet demand provides encouraging news for a sustaining demand post scrappage.
* Registrations of alternatively fuelled vehicles jumped 165.5% reflecting revised model offerings, to lift their market share from 0.6% last January to 1.3%.
* Growth remained focused on the mini and supermini segments, but all segments posted growth in January except the upper medium and sports car markets.
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