The arrangement comes as pressure grows from the car industry for the government to introduce a UK-wide scrappage incentive in this month's Budget, after new figures published yesterday (April 6) showed a 30.5% year-on-year drop in new car registrations last month.
The Citroen scheme offers vehicle owners £2,000 against the purchase of certain new Citroen models if they scrap a car from 2000 or earlier via the Cartakeback network.
The initiative is accompanied by other trade-in deals which offer owners a smaller incentive but do not require the vehicle to be scrapped.
Cartakeback is already contracted by Citroen to allow it to fulfil its obligations under the EU ELV Directive by providing a network of scrap yards and dismantlers where vehicles can be taken for free and recycled.
Commenting on the new agreement with Citroen, Cartakeback's development manager, Andrew Tromans, said: “We are delighted to be able to contribute towards Citroen's cradle to grave approach to vehicle ownership with our professional collection and recycling service for customers taking advantage of Citroen's scrappage scheme.”
Citroen UK's managing director, Xavier Duchemin, added that “we have seized this proposed government initiative and extended its scope to launch our own scrappage incentive scheme”.
Car registrations
Citroen's scrappage scheme has been launched as the UK car industry stepped up its calls for a nationwide scrappage scheme to be introduced after new figures published yesterday showed that, alongside last month's fall in new registrations, the overall market in the first three months of 2008 had shrunk by 29.7%.
The figures were published by trade body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), whose chief executive, Paul Everitt, said: “The fall in the market shows that government needs to do more to boost confidence.”
“A scrappage scheme will provide the incentive needed and the evidence is clear that schemes already implemented across Europe do work to increase demand. The UK is the only major European market not to implement a scheme,” he added.
Under the scheme proposed by the SMMT, cars and vans over nine years old would be able to be scrapped in return for a £2,000 cash incentive towards the purchase of a new or nearly new vehicle.
The SMMT has claimed that its surveys show 76% of UK consumers are in favour of such a scheme, and there have been reports the new car sales increased by 40% year-on-year in Germany last month, after it introduced a similar scheme.
The idea of a UK scrappage scheme has already won support from influential bodies such as the Confederation of British Industry (see letsrecycle.com story).
Subscribe for free