UPDATE: Ford has extended its van scrappage scheme into 2018 – click here for full details of the new scheme on Parkers Vans, now including the Ranger pickup
Ford has launched a new scrappage scheme – and in contrast to many other manufacturers currently trying the same sales tactic, this £2,000 scrappage incentive is available to van as well as car buyers.
Combined with other current Ford discounts, this means you could save as much as £7,000 in total on a new Transit, as long as the van you’re trading in is pre-Euro 5.
What’s Euro 5 got to do with the new Ford scrappage scheme?
Ford claims the scrappage scheme is being implemented to ‘drive air quality improvement across the UK’. As such, it targets more polluting vehicles, those built prior to Euro 5 emissions regulations.
The very latest vans, pickups and cars comply with Euro 6 emissions regulations; as you’d expect, Euro 5 legislation came before this, being officially introduced in December 2009.
Simply put, this means any van (or car) registered prior to 31 December 2009 is fair game for Ford’s new scrappage incentive.
Equally simply put – air quality claims aside (and we’ll look at these below), this is really a way to drive sales in a flagging post-Brexit vote vehicle market.
So how much is the Ford scrappage scheme going to save me and what vans does it apply to?
The basic Ford scrappage incentive is £2,000 – and that’s across every applicable model, which ranges from the latest Fiesta to the Transit.
In commercial vehicle terms, in addition to the full-size Transit, Ford scrappage is also available on the Transit Courier, Transit Connect (excluding the entry-level Base model) and the Transit Custom, which is of course the UK’s best-selling, most-popular van. For some reason, the scrappage incentive is not available on the Ranger pickup.
What’s more, that £2,000 is in addition to any existing Ford discount promotions – which in the case of vans run from £1,650 off the Courier to £5,000 off the Transit during September 2017.
This means a total saving of £7,000 is available to Transit buyers – or £3,650 if you’re looking at a Courier. Likewise, the Connect total discount is £5,000 (£2,000 scrappage plus £3,000 saving) and the Custom discount is £5,500 (£2,000 scrappage plus £3,500 regular saving).
But to be clear, to get those full amounts you do need a part-exchange that complies with Ford’s pre-Euro 5 scrappage scheme rules.
When does the Ford scrappage scheme end, and are there any other rules?
The Ford scrappage incentive runs from 1 September to 31 December 2017.
The vehicle you’re trading in also needs to have been registered to you as the current owner for at least 90 days at the time of the transaction.
Is Ford actually going to scrap the vehicles involved?
Apparently, yes. Unlike some other similar incentives taking place at the moment, when Ford says scrappage it really means it. Pre-Euro 5 vehicles traded-in will be scrapped.
Hopefully that really means recycled.
Will the Ford scrappage scheme really improve air quality?
Chairman and managing director of Ford UK, Andy Barratt is certainly convinced, saying: ‘Removing generations of the most polluting vehicles will have the most immediate positive effect on air quality, and this Ford scrappage scheme aims to do just that.’
He continues: ‘We don’t believe incentivising sales of new cars goes far enough and we will ensure that all trade-in vehicles are scrapped. Acting together we can take hundreds of thousands of the dirtiest cars off our roads and out of our cities.’
Ford calculates that ridding the UK of pre-Euro 5 vehicles can save ’15 million tons of CO2 annually’ – based on data that suggests there are approximately 19.3 million such vehicles currently on the road.
What Ford doesn’t say – and we have asked for clarification – is whether that ‘15 million tons’ relies on all the pre-Euro 5 vehicles getting scrapped, a somewhat unlikely scenario.
Using CO2 as a measure also seems slightly out of date, as these days air quality issues are mostly centred around harmful NOx emissions instead.
Although to be fair, NOx on modern Euro 6 vehicles is substantially reduced – it’s the very reason you have to fork out for AdBlue in addition to diesel in most vans now.
What’s less easy to swallow, is the total absence of any reference to the environmental impact of building brand new vehicles.
How much CO2 – to take Ford’s example – do you think will be produced by building another 19.3 million vehicles to replace the ones Ford is targeting here?
Is Ford doing anything else to clean up commercial vehicle emissions?
There are some interesting developments on the horizon.
First and foremost is the forthcoming Transit Custom PHEV – a plug-in hybrid variant that uses a petrol engine and an electric motor instead of a diesel. Testing begins later in 2017. You can find all the latest info in our dedicated story by clicking here.
Ford Transit Custom PHEV – everything you need to know
Ford is also working with Deutsche Post DHL to produce a fully electric version of the larger Transit, too. For details of that click here.
First official pictures and details of Ford-Deustche Post DHL all-electric Transit
Also read:
Van scrappage scheme round-up on Parkers Vans
The Parkers Vans guide to electric vans
The Parkers Vans guide to the most economical vans
What Euro 6 means for vans and pickups
Scrapyard image credit: Getty