Car scrappage scheme comes to an end

Designed to deliver a boost to the industry at a time when it needed it most, the scheme offered a £2,000 grant to scrap an old car in exchange for a new one. The government says it has helped to create and maintain jobs in the industry and supply chain, while helping up to 400,000 customers to buy a new car through scrappage. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said: "The scheme was always time limited and today as it closes I am pleased to see scrappage has delivered the results we aimed for – not just for manufacturers, but for the whole industry and its supply chain. The figures show that this scheme gave vital support, boosting demand when the industry needed it most, helping to position the auto sector to meet the challenges of building a strong low carbon future. "I fully endorse the initiatives already taken by industry to offer new deals and additional savings to customers still interested in buying a new car." The Department for Business said: 1. Scrappage contributed to approximately one fifth (20%) of all new car registrations since the scheme started 2. Half of scrappage buyers surveyed had never bought a new car before 3. More than half said they would not have bought any vehicle at this time if the scrappage scheme had not been introduced 4. Cars bought through scrappage had average CO2 emissions of 133g/km – 27% lower than the average CO2 of scrapped cars 5. The average age of cars scrapped under the scheme is just over 13 years - 90% of all cars scrapped in the scheme were between 10 and 16 years old (SMMT) 6. Government data estimates that there may have been as many as 4,000 jobs supported by the scheme at manufacturers and suppliers across UK 7. Of those surveyed 60% of car owners who bought a new vehicle under the scheme were over 60 years old.