The UK’s scrappage scheme has led to the first rise in new car sales in country for 15 months, with more than one in five of the cars registered in July bought under the incentive. New car sales rose 2.4% in July and the rush for new registration models in August has boosted demand and led to a subsequent increase in automotive logistics activity across the country, not least for Hyundai.
Following news that Honda has resumed production at its plant in Swindon and Nissan has hired staff for its Sunderland factory, in the last month Hyundai has processed 10,000 cars through the Port of Tilbury near London, three times the number of vehicles it moved through the port in the same month last year. The increase is a direct result of the scrappage scheme according to the company.
Production of the most popular i10, i20 and i30 models was ramped up at the carmaker’s plants to meet demand. A Hyundai UK spokesperson told Automotive Logistics that the i10 and i20 vehicles came from Hyundai Motor India’s Chennai facility, while and the i30 models were delivered from the Nosovice facility in the Czech republic.
The i10s and i20s arrived on a EUKOR vessel organised through Glovis and Hyundai Merchant Marine. The i30s, meanwhile, arrived by road from the Czech Republic.
UK finished vehicle transporter ECM then moved the vehicles from Tilbury to the dealerships.
Processing at Tilbury is carried out by Hyundai, which has a dedicated VPC at the port and extra temporary staff were hired to cope with the increase in throughput. Hyundai dealers have also taken on extra staff to cope with the demand and several plan to open around the clock to help process the orders and newly arriving cars.
As well as the i10, i20 and i30 models, Hyundai’s Coupes are also proving popular and stocks are only expected to last until the end of September said the company.
Pendragon, the UK's largest operator of franchised motor dealerships, added to the feeling of optimism despite reporting a 50% drop in profits this week. CEO Trevor Finn saw the July rise as a tentative sign that the industry was past the worst and called for an extension to the scheme. He told reporters that the UK car market had turned the corner after receiving a much-needed shot in the arm from the government's "cash for clunkers" scheme and predicted an upturn in the second half on the back of the programme.
The scrappage scheme is expected to run out of funds in October.
