8:47 am, July 15, 2008
BUYERS are switching to environmentally friendly and alternative-fuel cars – and the speed of the shift is surprising those in the trade.
Auctioneers BCA reports that demand for hybrid, electric and LPG-powered cars is rising so fast, value are now well ahead of the price guides.
‘BCA’s own research – published in the 2007 Used Car Market Report – suggested there needed to be a sea-change in public opinion before any kind of ‘alternative’ fuels became acceptable,’ said BCA’s Tim Naylor
‘Perhaps we should have suggested a sea-change in prices at the fuel pumps would have a similar effect? It would appear that rising fuel prices have succeeded in making motorists more environmentally friendly where successive transport policies have failed.’
BCA notes that demand in the used market is driven by acceptance by the general motoring public. This is now well under way; the hard evidence is there, from analysis of the million-plus cars BCA handles each year, that prices of eco cars are well ahead of other market sectors.
‘We concluded that the only way to make UK motorists ‘greener’ would be to make it expensive for them not to change their habits,’ said Naylor. It seems the shift is now under way.
