In Global News Monday, French automaker Citroen launched a scrappage program of its own in the U.K., General Motors' financing unit GMAC added payment protection to its loans, Japan's import sales plummeted as the government announced a massive economic stimulus plan, and Maruti Suzuki's Alto reigns supreme in India.
In the U.K., French automaker Citroen announced a scrappage -- or as it is known in the U.S. "cash for clunker" -- program. Citroen is offering an incentive of up to 2,000 Euros as a down payment on a Citroen C4 when a consumer trades in an older vehicle. Automakers have been pushing the British government for an automotive sales incentive plan or scrappage program but so far lawmakers have resisted.
Also in the U.K., General Motors' financing unit, GMAC, copied a program the automaker launched just last week in the U.S. -- a car payment protection plan. If the car buyer who finances a vehicle purchase through GMAC loses his or her job, loan payments are covered for a period of time. In the U.S., GM introduced last week payment protection as one piece of a suite of incentives, promoted under the umbrella of Total Confidence, intended to spur car sales.
In Japan, sales of imported vehicles, never a huge part of the automotive picture, nosedived 27 percent in March, plummeting to a 16-year low. (Imports also include vehicles made at overseas plants owned by Japanese carmakers.)
Meantime, this week the Japanese government said it was launching a massive economic stimulus package estimated to be worth 2 percent of the nation's GDP, which contracted to an annualized rate of 12.1 percent in the final quarter of 2008. Japan's announcement of a stimulus package, to be detailed on Friday, was the result of last week's G20 financial summit in London.
In India, the focus may be on the introduction of the cheapo Tata Nano, but it is Maruti Suzuki's Alto that is dominating sales. Alto sales soared 21 percent in March compared with a year ago to set a new March sales record of 23,569 sold. A perennially strong seller, the Alto was the first vehicle in India to sell more than 200,000 units domestically in a single year -- that being in fiscal 2006.
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