Small cars big winners in the scrappage scheme

Just days after the UK introduced a car scrappage scheme – where car buyers are given a £2,000 discount on a new car if they scrap one that is at least 10 years old – the motor industry has hosted its annual test driving day for journalists.

An impressive range of some 160 of the latest models that are for sale in the UK were available for trials at Millbrook Proving Ground’s intricate hill route, the off road track, or around the high speed circuit.

But as the more than 250 journalists in attendance buzzed about the Millbrook test tracks, the manufacturers were left behind in their exhibition chalets.

The were wondering whether the scrappage scheme, half of which is funded by the government, will bring buyers back to the showrooms.

At the Kia stand there was little doubt.

“We’ve taken 4,000 orders on the back of the scrappage scheme,” beamed one representative for the Korean carmaker Kia Motors, which has slashed its £6,195 Picanto to £4,195.

“If the customer then puts up a £1,000 deposit, they can have the car for £10 per week,” declared her equally buoyant colleague.

It’s a promise that reinforces BBC Top Gear’s assessment of the car: “It is to motoring what the disposable camera is to photography.” Full story…