Green brigade at it again

[SprintMWU773V]

Seems vauxhall want to get on the big Green Wagon that we can't seem to escape from at the moment, what will this do for Classics of the future?

EMBARGOED: 5 June 2007, 1300 hrs

VAUXHALL MOVES TO MAKE BRITAIN BANGER-FREE

New incentives to make Vauxhall’s ‘greenest’ models more affordable
Buyers encouraged to scrap older, polluting cars with a £1,000 bonus
Available in addition to current offers including free finance and free insurance
First stage of new Europe-wide environmental strategy from General Motors
It’s an all too common sight on British roads – the so-called banger, emitting choking exhaust fumes into the atmosphere. Everyone would like to get these older, more polluting cars off the streets, but owners of these cars will often tell you they just can’t afford anything better.

Now, as the first part of a new, Europe-wide General Motors environmental initiative called ecoFLEX, Vauxhall is introducing an incentive to help owners scrap their bangers and swap into the most fuel-efficient and lowest-polluting new Vauxhalls.

From now until the end of August, Vauxhall will offer a £1,000 bonus for anyone trading in a car which is then scrapped in exchange for the lowest emission versions of the Corsa, Meriva, Astra and Zafira. Even for drivers who do not want their cars scrapped, dealers will still offer a £250 trade-in bonus to encourage buyers into one of Vauxhall’s cleanest models.

Vauxhall believes this campaign could have a dramatic effect on emissions. According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) figures, over 15 million cars currently on UK roads are seven years old or more; nearly nine million of these have passed their ninth birthday and over four million cars are more than 12 years old.

Even if these vehicles are well maintained, many will not have the latest emission control equipment and – contrary to expectations – are actually less fuel efficient too. Taking these cars off the road could have a significant effect on emissions of harmful pollutants, including the ‘greenhouse gas’, carbon dioxide.

For example, a 1995 Vauxhall Astra 1.7 D was capable of an average 44.2mpg, whereas the 1.3 CDTi unit in the current Astra returns 58.9mpg. Every litre of petrol spared saves 2.4kg of CO2 and every litre of diesel saves 2.6kg, so a British driver covering 12,000 miles a year in the new Astra would save
around £300 in fuel and a huge 800kg of CO2 annually.

And it’s not just CO2 levels which are reduced by driving a new Vauxhall. The latest catalyst technology drastically reduces the most poisonous emissions from a car exhaust. Taking just a thousand petrol vehicles built in the early 1990s off British roads would prevent 11.5 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and 41.5 tons of carbon monoxide (CO) being pumped into the atmosphere each year, based on an annual mileage of 12,000.

Vauxhall doesn’t only think it’s the efficiency of cars which is crucial to help the environment, and has worked tirelessly to improve manufacturing processes. As a result the Ellesmere Port plant in Cheshire which builds the latest Astra has halved energy consumption in terms of kWh/vehicle since 2003.

"Modern, low-emission vehicles can only help the environment when they also replace the old cars which still blight Britain’s roads," says Jonathan Browning, Vauxhall’s Chairman and Vice-President GM Europe. "We know that there are many drivers who would love to see their old car scrapped and replaced by a modern safe, fuel efficient, reliable and ‘greener’ vehicle, but they think they can’t afford it. Vauxhall will now assist them.

"The scrapping incentive is only the first part of our ecoFLEX campaign. We will continue to optimise the internal combustion engine through technologies such as downsizing and turbocharging while perfecting innovations such as the E-Flex hybrid and fuel cells. Ultimately, we aim to remove the car from the environmental equation."

In addition to the ecoFLEX scrapping incentives, customers can still take their choice of Vauxhall’s existing customer offers, which include zero-percent finance, free insurance and free servicing on certain models. This could mean that a buyer could trade in a ‘banger’ and drive away in a new Corsa for only £6,495 or own Meriva Energy on zero percent finance with monthly payments from just £170.55, for example.

The incentives are available on the most fuel-efficient versions of Vauxhall’s best selling small and family cars: the Corsa 1.0-litre petrol and 1.3 CDTi 75; Meriva 1.4-litre petrol and 1.3CDTi; Astra 1.4-litre petrol and 1.3CDTi and Zafira 1.6-litre petrol and 1.9CDTi 120PS.

ENDS

[Dollyboy]

well, its just another load of tedious boring green bashing unfounded environmental plop.

car manufacturers just dont like it that folk use a bit of initiative and service/maintain/take care of cars that should of course have been dead n buried 20 yrs ago, and keeping them on the road means its less new car sales for them. @rseholes. dont get me wrong, technical progress and ultra energy efficient machines are great, 130mph+, 0-60 in 7 secs and still able to average 140mpg is all fab n groovy...

you can see it coming, get all cars over 20 yrs old off the road unless its a show car that you need to apply for special dispensation for and you're only allowed to do 5000 miles a year max in it, or you get walloped with some penalty tax bollox. my solution to this would be pull the speedo cable a few hundred miles before the limit of course!

why dont we all go and buy the latest vauxhall hovercraft, weigh our 'classics' in, live in recycled cardboard houses, eat organic rice boiled in reclaimed power station steam after its been passed through a few windmills.

tosh.

yawn.

[1300dolly]

it sounds more that vauxhall are talking about their old cars ie. 1990s astras as being the polluters. this is just a puplicity stunt and tax break scam cos the goverment will pay them for offering this deal.
in reality GM have overpriced the cars by £1500 .give a £1000 discount plus the money they receive from the tax payers (who are buying the cars) for putting money into new scemes/sending mr director to the US for a conference and with the publicity from eco groups ect they are quids in.

how much pollution is caused by Mr director getting a taxi from home to the airport ,flight to US ,a cab to the hotel and to GMs HQ.?
and dont forget that vauxhall?GM will be paying for him and co worker to be staying in a not cheap hotel ,eating out at resturants (cab both ways)
smoking cuban cigars ,drinking expensive wines,cabs back and fro to the 'GM are so eco friendley conference ,all of which add to the polution through being made ,delivered.

[toyracer]

Curious how they don't deter people from buying their new SUV then, it's all over their homepage for car. shurely shome mishtake....

Marketing people, may you all kill youselves so we can get on with evolution...

Unconfused from Twickenham.

[Jon Tilson]

Did I see your car near St Margerets station a month or so ago?

Jonners

[toyracer]

Did I see your car near St Margerets station a month or so ago?

Jonners

Probably was, I'm around there quite a bit - mine's yellow and 'L' reg There is another yellow Sprint I've seen around in the area, and an Orange one, so it could have been them, depending...

[tinweevil]

And another one here.

Does anyone else see the CARS scheme mentioned as a massive counter productive loophole?

Tinweevil

[1300mash]

This is a good example of car manufacturer's hypocrisy. Only a couple of years ago Vauxhall were making big noises about their heritage and supply of parts for older cars. They want to make their minds up.