SALES of British-built Minis are enjoying a massive boost in Europe thanks to the EU ‘scrappage’ grant scheme that our Government is still pondering over.

The news came from Mini’s managing director Andy Hearn, who told me: “In Germany sales last month were up 21.5 per cent on February last year, before things started turning sour.

“The incentive is 2,500 euros from the Government when you scrap an old car to buy a new one, and many dealers are matching it, and the segment people are buying in the Mini’s – it’s a big boost.”

At the same time an independent consumer survey commissioned by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed that 76 per cent of consumers are in favour of our Government introducing a scrappage incentive scheme similar to those already running across Europe.

The proposed scheme here could see drivers of cars over nine years old offered a £2,000 incentive towards a new or nearly new car in return for scrapping their existing one.

The survey, undertaken by MM-Eye, a market research company specialising in automotive research, showed that 61 per cent of people said they were likely to take up the offer and 66 per cent of people agreed with the idea of taking older cars off the road and replacing them with newer ones because of the positive environmental impact.

An average new car emits 14.6 per cent less CO2 than a nine-year-old model so the scrappage scheme would continue the trend in reducing car emissions.

The survey backed this further, showing that people likely to take up the offer would be buying cars at the smaller end of the market, with the lowest CO2 emissions.

Of those likely to take up the offer 88 per cent said they’d spend up to £10,000 on a new car in addition to the £2,000 incentive.

Commenting on the survey, SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt said: “The scrappage incentive scheme is a popular way for Government to support the automotive industry and provides good value for money for the taxpayer.

“The increased VAT revenue to Government largely offsets the cost of the scheme, yet the positive impact it could have on building consumer confidence and boosting the new vehicle market are extremely valuable to the UK automotive sector and the 800,000 people that work within it.”