New car sales starting to falter
Only three months ago, under the former Labour government, the UK car industry seemed to be going from strength to strength with the introduction of the car scrappage scheme. However, over the last few months it has become apparent that the industry is beginning to struggle and car sales were down 17.5% in August compared to the corresponding period in 2009. In the year to July the fall was 13% which would indicate that the slowdown in the industry is being impacted by fears of a slowdown in the economy.
While there's no doubt that the car scrappage scheme did artificially support the UK car market there is also no doubt that it did inject some confidence into the industry. However, it seems that the UK population are now looking to reduce their spending in the short to medium term as businesses and consumers look to batten down the hatches ahead of what could be a very difficult period for the UK economy.
The coalition government has already made it known that there will be no more funding for the UK car industry which makes the ongoing decline in sales more of a concern.
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