Vehicle manufacturing sector under threat

Car-makers have warned British MPs of the huge financial costs threatening the economic future of vehicle manufacturers if a European Union directive about scrapping old cars is implemented.

Under the directive, motor manufacturers would be forced to take back and recycle their products at a cost of about £300 a vehicle.

However the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) told MPs of a possible compromise, involving making shredders and dismantlers of cars largely responsible for the system.

The option would mean dismantlers would have the choice of accepting or rejecting a vehicle but once it was accepted, it would become their responsibility.

It is estimated that without a compromise the new directive could cost the UK car industry £450 million a year.

The compromise was outlined to the House of Commons Trade and Industry Committee by SMMT chief executive Christopher Macgowan, who said it would require a vehicle’s owner to be responsible for it and not simply to abandon it for others to pick up the cost. It would also leave the specialist task of recycling and shredding vehicles to the experts. In addition he said it would “remove the crippling financial burden from the balance sheets of manufacturers that threatened their economic viability”.

The End of Life Vehicle Directive comes into force next year and it is up to the British government to decide how it will be implemented.

The new directive applies initially only to new cars, but after 2007 manufacturers would be responsible for every car they had ever sold. (AMcE)