MCI calls for Government support
Added on Thursday, November 27th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
MCI want more support to encourage the motorcycle industry.
The MCI has called on the Government to support the motorcycle industry through the current credit crisis following Monday’s pre-budget report.
On Monday, Chancellor Alistair Darling announced a raft of measures designed to ease the difficulties on businesses, including increased access to credit and alterations to business rate policies.
That was followed by calls from the SMMT, the representative body for the car industry, for government assistance to “bail out” the beleaguered industry and save some 800,000 jobs. Such proposals are already in place in the US, with bail-outs of the so-called “big three”; Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, on the horizon.
But the MCI has pressed forward its own claims on the eve of the Carole Nash International Motorcycle and Scooter Show at Birmingham’s NEC, claiming that the motorcycle industry can shape the nation’s future transport policy.
Such support would also help to secure some 15,000 jobs and protect an industry worth £3bn annually ahead of what is expected to be a volatile 2009.
The MCI welcomed the recent cut in VAT but said that measures to support the motorcycle industry would also assist the government in meeting their targets for reducing congestion and carbon emissions.
The MCI suggestions include:
- Ensuring that dealers have access to low-cost finance so that stock levels can be maintained, enabling consumers who decide to switch to two wheels to get on the road as quickly as possible
- Ensuring that support gets through to the shop floor and the independent dealers who most need help
- Maintaining availability of low-cost finance to the supply chain so that jobs and services are maintained until the credit crunch eases.
“This isn’t just about sustaining business and jobs,” said MCI chief executive Steve Kenward. “There’s a great opportunity to use the recession positively by supporting the industry at a time when more and more people are turning to two wheels. Motorcycles make social, economic and environmental sense.
“The chancellor’s announcement this week of a cut in VAT is helpful, but his give and take on petrol has done nothing to reduce the costs of travel. Train fares will increase by up to 11 per cent in the new year, hitting commuters especially hard. There is an ever-stronger case for government and local authorities to encourage greater use of mopeds, scooters and other practical, multi-use motorcycles as the recession bites deeper.”
The measures also call on local authorities to promote motorcycle use as a genuine, congestion-busting alternative to private car use, particularly in terms of providing more secure motorcycle parking areas - a campaign supported by motorcycle insurance broker Carole Nash.
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