7:02 am, January 20, 2009
DEALER group the RMIF says moves to introduce a green car scrappage scheme are edging closer.
The RMIF proposed the scheme, which would give new car buyers discounts if they traded their old car for a brand-new ‘eco’ one, back in 2008.
At a meeting in Brussels last week, EU industry ministers spoke of an EU initiative to possibly introduce such a scheme.
This, says the RMIF, would take heavily polluting old cars off the road, as well as helping revive new car sales. It would also be self-financing: the Government would receive VAT income from those new car sales.
‘Scrappage policies have been successfully adopted by a number of European countries in the last few years, including Ireland, France, Germany, and Spain,’ said RMIF director Sue Robinson.
‘We believe that adopting the policy could help move the economy in the right direction.
‘This RMIF initiative is clearly gathering momentum.’
However, the proposed scheme, which the RMIF presented to business secretary Lord Mandelson in November, was dismissed by one insider close to the Government Car Dealer spoke to recently.
The Government is in serious debt at the moment, he said. This makes it unlikely that any such schemes to increase this debt would be considered in the short term.
But on a European level? It is a different matter entirely. Car Dealer will be following this one very closely indeed…
