I used to run a Peugeot 308 as a long-termer. Fine car, it was. Interior better built than a Golf, peachy HDi engine, and one of the nicest dial packs around.
Cost £20k, though. Bit much, I used to think, for a family hatch.
Ah, how things change. Now, 18 months on, 308s are a fair bit cheaper. Well, according to my local dealer they are. £11,995, they’ll do you one for. That’s £3700 off list – brand new.
This is cheap. And good. Unless you’re Peugeot.
See, last year, Peugeot told me they weren’t selling as many 407s, because everyone was downsizing, into 308s.
Fair enough, I thought. With prices like that, you’ll still be able to maintain profits.
But, if dealers are willingly offering ‘scrappage x2’ to customers before they even walk through the door – on new, unregistered (the ad states this – no pre-reg here) 308s, what does that say for the car’s fortunes?
Contrast this with the 107, a car so very much on the money. The saving there is £1k – which, conveniently, is exactly what the Government is asking car makers to put in to the new car scrap scheme.
In short, up to now, Peugeot’s easily sold 107s. But 308s have proven a fair bit trickier. Hence the respective savings.
The 207 sits somewhere in the middle of these two, which sounds about right to me, too. All of which means I’ve devised a new test.
You don’t need to look at SMMT figures. Find out which cars are doing well, and which aren’t by scanning the dealer offers in the local paper, instead. I’ll do this for a few weeks, then get onto the SMMT, and see how right I am…
Why car scrappage is now inevitable
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