Britain’s post election austerity budget may soon bite on the car industry as the minister in charge of such things indicated direct support may be off the menu.
That could mean bye-bye to a GBP5,000 grant to buyers of low-emission or electric vehicles to mixed reception – the green lobby appalled, us plebs saying, quite right, why should the taxpayer be subsidising those who can already afford expensive new technology toys? Make ’em pay full whack.
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At least, unlike the previous Labour – ha – government, Liberal-Conservative coalition minister Cable and his chums seem ready to support ‘high value’ manufacturing like the Toyota Auris hybrid officially given the off this week. The government support largely for training people to build it makes sense.
Editor Dave Leggett has caught up with former Ford chassis guru Richard Parry-Jones and found out what he’s doing with his time these days.
Ambitious electric car maker Tesla went public this week, we took a closer look, and Govern…, I mean General Motors looks pretty much set for its turn, possibly before year’s end. It seems the last US automaker to do an IPO was Ford in ’56 (a great year).
After various reprieves, news finally came that Chrysler PT Cruiser production will soon end, prompting yours truly to review how other retro models have been treated by various automakers.
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By GlobalDataI liked the ol’ PT, ultimately doomed here by horrendous CO2 output (on which annual road tax is calculated) and being no longer new, and can only wonder why Chrysler didn’t redesign and re-engine its 2000 smash hit, as Mini has done so well since 2001.
Ford decided to cut more UK prices this week while, in the US, some of its debt was paid down, and we learned today about a small victory in Mexico making ‘chocolate cars’ more expensive to buy.
I’m not sure where that expression comes from but here in the UK we have ‘about as useless as a chocolate teapot’.
Enjoy your weekend.
Graeme Roberts
Deputy/News Editor
just-auto.com
