Not only would the UK managing director like to see the scrappage scheme continued but he'd also like to see it revised to be fairer on all manufacturers.
'Our preference would be for it to be on a sliding scale compared to price,' he told AutoBlog at the Frankfurt Motor Show. 'VAT increases as the price of cars increase and that's the way I'd like to see the scheme run – so that there's more contribution the larger the car's price.'
Effectively what he's saying is as the price of the car bought under the scheme goes up, the contribution from the government and carmaker goes up too.
'At Mercedes we did not anticipate we'd do a high level of volume under the scrappage scheme, but we've even sold an SL63 on the scrappage scheme,' he added. 'But there is a tendency for it to benefit smaller cars, from Kia and Hyundai for example, and less so for brands like us. A sliding scale would help.'
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
A.Nottsdweller @ Sep 21st 2009 5:49PM
I think ol' Dermot's lost the plot somewhat. The Government wants to encourage people to buy cheap, economical, environmentally friendly cars, not big, heavy, over-priced, gas-guzzling and arguably environmentaly unfriendly metal sheds-on-wheels.
Perhaps in the case of Mercedes, Bentley, Rolls etc., the reverse should apply and the scrappage scheme provide less - maybe nothing at all in fact, for the prospective buyer.
Perhaps the government might even consider introducing a penalty or tax for anyone scrapping a car and then buying a less environmentally friendly one. Just a thought Mr. Kelly.