Deloitte says car scrappage scheme is ‘too blunt an instrument’
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While big four business advisor Deloitte describes the UK's vehicle scrappage scheme as "an excellent mechanism to help support the sector", its UK manufacturing industry leader David Raistrick (pictured), adds that "many industry sources have commented to me that it is too blunt an instrument in its current form and lacks important environmental considerations such as encouraging people to buy more fuel efficient vehicles."
Raistrick goes on: "Since the scheme was introduced, we have seen an upsurge in car sales, but as with the experience in Germany, this has been largely limited to smaller vehicles that are at the lower-end of the price spectrum. The scrappage scheme is not having a widespread impact on the automotive industry as a whole, rather only a very limited percentage of UK manufacturers are benefiting and even then this is limited to a few vehicles within their range.
"On the surface, these smaller vehicles would appear to be the most environmentally friendly options. This is not entirely true however as there are numerous mid sized cars which are more environmentally considerate.
"A more sophisticated version of the scheme would have been ideal, with further environmental aspects incorporated such as varying levels of government support dependant upon a car's CO2 efficiency. An extension of the scheme to incorporate vehicles up to 12 months old would also be widely welcomed by the industry".
