CAR TROUBLE

Nov 11 2008 by Sue Scott, Evening Gazette

BRITISH drivers’ love affair with the car looked to be heading for the rocks when recent official figures revealed that even the new 58-registration number plates had failed to ignite enough passion to prise open their wallets.

The 21% dip in sales in September 2008 when the new plates were released was swiftly followed by a 25% fall in October, fuelling concerns that sales would slip into the sort of free fall that car manufacturers had endured in the early 1990s when new registrations were down for 27 successive months.

Yesterday Reg Vardy and Evans Halshaw’s parent, Pendragon, said it was expecting to make a £30m loss this year, which it pressed ahead with closing 75 forecourts.

Even regional motor giant Nissan has announced 800 job losses.

But, grim as 2009 promises to be, it’s not all bad news for the Teesside supply chain.