Cheap new cars

Cheap New Cars are not often words that you see in the same sentence but in the last few months the market has seen an influx of brand new cars for sale offering value for money in addition to fuel economy and all mod cons. The New Car scrappage scheme has been hailed as the saviour of the car manufacturing industry in the UK. It has also courted controversy in the press as merely another income stream for the beleaguered, cash strapped Labour government. Conversely, car manufacturing experts have stated this as a reason for the government to continue with the incentive simply because it would be no cost to the government and therefore the wider tax paying public whilst being a massive gain to the industry.

Prior to the car scrappage scheme, the recession was biting hard on the heels of the car manufacturers. Consumers were cutting back on luxuries in the wake of the economic slump and were reluctant to take out additional credit when most were facing an increasing debt mountain already. By the time the car scrappage scheme was being considered in the UK, half a million jobs were at risk in the manufacturing industry and several hundred had already been lost; new cars were backing up on the forecourts and used car sales had rocketed as car owners saw them as cheaper alternatives. Scrappage schemes had already been introduced in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Spain to considerable success, for example Germany alone had seen an increase in car sales by 21% in March alone.

The results have been far reaching for the car industry. Over 100,000 new cars were registered under the scheme and another 100,000 are awaiting order. It has secured 850,000 jobs; consumers have access to excellent cars at excellent prices; the incentive is largely self funding with VAT payments, so the taxpayer hasn't lost out; the cars bought under the scheme are typically 15% lower in C02 emissions; and dealers have benefited as it has maintained their viability and enabled the customer to continue to buy a new car. The success of the scrappage scheme has been so huge for new car sales that Peter Mandelson announced in the Labour party conference that the incentive will be extended to reach another 100,000 vehicles.

Motoring.co.uk has seen over half a million searches for scrappage deals since April 09. Some of the top searched for cars on Motoring.co.uk have been the Kia Picanto, the Toyota Aygo and the Hyundai I10. These cars are smaller, value for money and more economical to run which while petrol prices are on the increase make them a good long term investment. The scrappage incentive means brand news cars will continue to be within reach for many consumers