With new car sales down by 40% since January, it is estimated that the automotive sector has suffered from a loss of £20 billion. Many environmental factors and social & economic changes are at play, and how we live essentially influences our current cars’ future.
As such, scrap metal prices have risen with the demand for rare metal components. This is big news within the scrap industry as with the recent decline of new car sales, scrap locals are on hand to provide insight into how chip shortages rising scrap metal prices, and the increasing sale of used and electric vehicles are affecting new diesel and petrol cars.
A rising concern influencing low car sales in the UK is battery chip shortages.
As chip shortages grow globally, it’s estimated that new car sales will be halted by the growing market share of electric vehicles and how battery chips are required as this new innovative, sustainable sector grows.
Additional issues relating to car chip shortages include rising shipping costs, with car manufacturers struggling post-lockdown. With a push on rare earth metals needed for the production of new chips, shortages for copper & precious metals have increased scrap metal prices.
”The number of chips a modern car needs is rising sharply. The new Nissan Qashqai has 50% more sensors than the outgoing car.”
UK petrol & diesel cars have slumped to their lowest in nearly 20 years despite a surge in EV sales.
With a decline in growth in the sector following the initial first lockdown, sales & production of diesel cars have been stalled following the closure of showrooms in England because of the global lockdown, with a push on online car sales and social distancing in factories to assist in the recovery of the new car sales.
These are just a few other factors that have influenced low new car sales & their rising pattern as we shift into a unique automotive age.
The Rise of Clean Air Zones across major cities such as London, Manchester & Birmingham has affected the car-buying habits of many motorists across the UK.
In short, clean air zones and low emissions targets have led to many petrol & diesel cars, both used & new car sales,, being badly affected by policies that penalise highly polluting vehicles.
Many motorists do not want to pay penalties via inner-city congestion charges. They would much instead follow government guidelines that look towards more environmentally sustainable options, as with a growing contender to petrol and diesel cars, The humble electric vehicle.
Many areas have followed the success of the ULEZ grant scrappage scheme in London, and other places have followed suit as consumers start to receive higher scrap value for their old vehicles when they decide to upgrade to electric cars.
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Despite the fall of petrol and diesel cars, the sales of Electic vehicles had trebled since 2020 with 110,00 vehicles accounting for 6.6% of total car sales.
When considering plug-in hybrids, which still use a combustion engine alongside rechargeable lithium battery packs, the market share of plug-in hybrid electric cars rose by over 10%!
With the industry being accelerated by overseas infrastructure development, the rise of electric cars looks to grow more rapidly as the government are set to ban the sale of diesel and petrol cars by 2030.
Changes to VED (vehicle exercise duty tax rates), the UK aims to achieve a net-zero target by 2040 by effectively banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars & vans. Phasing out petrol & diesel engines, the UK Is expected to achieve their goal of a zero-carbon economy.
By increasing VED tax rates, which measure the rate of carbon emissions produced per KM, increases to tax alongside fuel duty costs are looking to influence road users to make the switch to a greener & more sustainable vehicles.
The introduction of clean air zones across key cities & regions such as Manchester & London will only reduce the sale of new petrol & diesel car sales.
Find out more about changes to VED tax rates with our complete guide.
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