Climate: Ford’s Pledge a Load of Scrap?

Ford has announced its own scrappage scheme for pre-2010 vehicles of any brand with incentives of up to £4,000 off a new Ford car or £7,000 off a van. The car manufacturer cited worries about air quality as a chief reason for its initiative but does that moral concern stack up against the plans of other manufacturers, such as Volvo’s pledge that all its new models will soon be at least partially electric?

Andy Barratt, chairman and managing director of Ford of Britain, said his firm “shares society’s concerns over air quality. Removing generations of the most polluting vehicles will have the most immediate positive effect on air quality and this Ford scrappage scheme aims to do just that. We don’t believe incentivising sales of new cars goes far enough and we will ensure that all trade-in vehicles are scrapped.”

The UK Government has announced that new diesel and petrol cars and vans will be banned from 2040 to tackle air pollution.

A Ford sales push?

Critics are not convinced by Ford’s clever new scheme. The pledge has the air of a marketing push, offering consumers a sudden chance to get a big discount on a new Ford but they only have four months to seize it.

Barratt said the scheme was the only one open to commercial transit users. The UK car market has been shrinking since the Brexit vote with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders reporting an 8.5% drop in sales in May and a 19.8% decline in April.

Environmental Excuse?

Is there really much benefit in scrapping a polluting car to replace it with a slightly less polluting car? Post-2010 engines are claimed by Ford to emit 80% less Nitrogen Oxides than the most polluting vehicles on UK roads but the biggest issue remains the danger of diesel.

The Euro 6 emissions standard set in 2010 dropped diesel NOx levels to 80mg/km from the previous 180mg/km while petrol has only been reduced by 20mg/km since 2005.

So while “every little counts” when it comes to the 37.3 million vehicles licensed on UK roads at the end of last year the fact remains that there is an environmental cost to scrappage, especially when intended to drive the sale of new cars. A car’s manufacture is believed to account for 10%-15% of its lifetime emissions.

New car or future car?

Ford’s offer would be more laudable and effective in terms of air pollution if it included a higher incentive to buy a Ford hybrid or electric car.

According to the comparison site Money Supermarket a consumer “could expect to pay between £2,000 and £4,000 more for the hybrid version of a £15,000 conventional model, or up to £5,000 more for a £20,000 car.”

Intriguingly those figures are within the bounds of the Ford discount, so perhaps the discount should only be applied to hybrids or increased for them? Both steps would diminish the profitability of such a scheme but fortunately there is a Government grant that offers the potential for a big extra discount.

Plug-in car grant

The 2011 plug-in car grant provided £5,000 of taxpayers’ money to subsidise people buying electric cars. Even with tighter eligibility criteria based on the growing take-up of electric cars the Ford Focus Electric fits into the top category. The grant will pay for 35% of the purchase price of vehicles in that category, up to a maximum of £4,500, which combined with the Ford scrappage scheme could get you £6,500 off a new hybrid.

The vehicle industry and fleet operators have complained that the Government has not provided any clarity about how long the plug-in car grant will be available, making this yet another issue that Chancellor Philip Hammond needs to clarify in his Budget later this year.

by Stewart Vickers

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