Leading insurer esure has just conducted new research revealing 62% of British motorists are considering an electric or hybrid car as their next vehicle purchase. Just enter eco cars uk into Google to see some 19m results – this is competitive territory…

However 93% of motorists say this is fundamentally dependant on a greener vehicle cash incentives scheme from the Government.

No surprises here of course; I know from my dealings with women drivers who are members of FOXY Lady Drivers Club that green motoring is particularly close to our ethical hearts and shopping agenda!

As things stand, the government is peddling a mixed message to female motorists, encouraging many women drivers to scrap perfectly serviceable cars (we know of many really sad cases here) in pursuit of a cheap new one which has been produced overseas ;-(

At least it has helped some UK dealers to stay afloat financially and to adopt a more positive frame of mind. Remove the scrappage scheme (this will end in February 2010 if not before) and I fear for those car dealerships that seem incapable of strategic marketing of their own without an industry showing them how and holding their hand…

However, other than encouraging bargain-minded motorists to trade up (and support the UK’s many motoring-related businesses) this scrappage scheme has certainly served to demonstrate that what foxy female motorists want are small cars and economic motoring - Hyundai for example have outsold Ford here this year in terms of the value of its i10/i20/i30 cars and the Hyundai 5 year warranty.  This is remarkable but may well be explained by Ford’s considered need to raise its prices in a recession – I bet they regret this now. Needless to say Hyundai is ramping up their UK car dealer coverage to make the most of this new car sales bonanza and I would expect them to want to keep this competitive cost advantage post scrappage.

So the message to the government is clear. Incentivise motorists to buy cars and they will as the scrappage scheme confirms.

Just try to get the campaign focused on greater UK gain next time. If the message is to be ‘green’ then the industry is ahead of the game. All you have to do is reward motorists who don’t want to have to pay the higher price a la Prius, knowing that the resale value of the car is set to slump as the development costs are amortised.

In this way the UK motor industry, the UK economy and the global environment will all benefit as a result.

FOXY Steph

“Have a very good reason for everything you do.”
Laurence Olivier