Cable puts brakes on UK car industry

[MX7]

Cable puts brakes on UK car industry

I hope the £5,000 subsidy for buyers of electric cars is scrapped.

[MX7]

rypt said:

MX7 said:

I hope the £5,000 subsidy for buyers of electric cars is scrapped.

why?

Several reasons.

I don't think it's the role of the government to subsidise a private industry. Of course, there are cases where a company/industry needs bailing out in an emergency, but this isn't an emergency.

It's been suggested that car manufacturers inflated their prices to compensate for the scrappage scheme. I can see something similar happening with this, which is counterproductive if your aim is to increase electric transport.

If it's sold as a way to support British industry, then it should only apply to cars manufactured in Britain, which can't happen due to EU competition laws.

I think we have more important places to spend the money at the moment.

Lastly, the electric car market should be able to survive on it's own merits. While the initial outlay might be relatively high, the cost of fuel should be enough incentive to sway people. If it isn't, so be it.

I think that's all.

[MX7]

rypt said:

MX7 said:

rypt said:

MX7 said:

I hope the £5,000 subsidy for buyers of electric cars is scrapped.

why?

Several reasons.

I don't think it's the role of the government to subsidise a private industry. Of course, there are cases where a company/industry needs bailing out in an emergency, but this isn't an emergency.

It's been suggested that car manufacturers inflated their prices to compensate for the scrappage scheme. I can see something similar happening with this, which is counterproductive if your aim is to increase electric transport.

If it's sold as a way to support British industry, then it should only apply to cars manufactured in Britain, which can't happen due to EU competition laws.

I think we have more important places to spend the money at the moment.

Lastly, the electric car market should be able to survive on it's own merits. While the initial outlay might be relatively high, the cost of fuel should be enough incentive to sway people. If it isn't, so be it.

I think that's all.

Many manufacturers have UK R&D sites, many employ British ex-pats in their R&D operations overseas.

Electric cars are the probably future, but in order to speed up their development and uptake we need some government support (perhaps the smarter move is to make electric cars be VAT free, road tax free for the next ~5 years rather than just giving £5k sum - though this would cost more to the government)

We waste enough money, but this is a just cause imo.

British people are employed in every industry all over the world, but I don't consider that a reason to subsidise everything.

Electric car may be the future, but that should be down to market forces. As the car industry have allegedly been somewhat obstinate in the past over battery technology, I don't see why we should be assisting their industry in this way. I would prefer it if VAT was lower on new electric vehicles (10%?), if we really do need to give them a leg up. Who's to say that it won't be the Hydrogen Cell that wins the battle, or something else altogether.

While the hard times that GM went through have been well publicised, Ford made a profit of $2.1 billion for the first quarter of this year, and VAG €848m. I see no reason to ask the taxpayer to make a donation that they simply can't afford at the moment. If the industry thinks it's worthy, let them take initiative.

I'm also unsure about how viable the whole concept is. To make it viable, they are going to have to produce a lot of batteries, and I'm not sure that's even possible. There's an article with some interesting views here. If what he says is true, it will never become a realistic alternative.

At the core, I believe that the government should provide the relevant facts, and let the consumer steer the market as to what they want.