‘Swappage’ – No Trade-in required

For van owners, the problem with the government’s scrappage scheme was that there aren’t many vans over 10 years old on the roads. Furthermore, the scheme prevented anyone taking part who intended to finance the van using an ‘off balance sheet’ method – an approach favoured by many van operators.

Mercedes-Benz has decided to help these poor souls potential customers out by offering its own ‘Swappage’ scheme – where buyers can get £2,000 off the price of a new Sprinter 311CDi – the most popular model – regardless of how they finance it or whether they have anything to trade in.

Mercedes is meeting the cost of this itself, as it doesn’t qualify for governement scrappage payments, and is offering three finance/acquisition methods for potential buyers – operating lease, contract purchase and regular finance.

For more details, see the RoadTransport.com report here.

LDV Going Down The Pan?

It seemed like they might have had (yet another) saviour, but with the news that Malaysian company Weststar has pulled out of a deal to purchase LDV, the future looks bleak for the Birmingham-based company.

While I don’t like to see manufacturing (or any other) jobs disappearing in the UK, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that LDV just doesn’t deserve to be saved. They haven’t made a profit since time began, and their vans are, frankly, a little bit cheap and cheerful and behind the times.

To be honest, I’d rather that the money the government might spend on LDV is invested in other, already successful van enterprises – like Modec, Smith Electric Vehicles and even Vauxhall, if necessary.

Better still, I’d rather the government didn’t prop up every loss making automotive company unless there was a good reason to.