§ Lord Jacobsasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Sainsbury of Turville on 26 June (WA 56), (a) what are the recommended retail prices in May 2000 of the 1.6 Ford Focus, the 1.25 Ford Fiesta and the 1.6 Vauxhall Astra taking the model that is the nearest equivalent to those chosen in the Answer for May 1999, particularly in respect of number of doors and engine size; and (b) what is the individual percentage increase or decrease of the recommended retail price compared with May 1999 for each of the three car models; and what is the average percentage increase or decrease in the recommended retail price for these cars. [HL3125]
§ The Minister for Science, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville)Further to my Written Answer of 26 June 2000, although recommended list prices are made available to dealers, they are not publicly available. The European Commission obtained recommended retail prices for May 1999, but has not been able to obtain them for this year. However, under the draft Supply of New Cars Order 2000, which my right honourable friend the Secretary of State proposes to issue very shortly, it will be incumbent on manufacturers to notify dealers, at intervals of three months, the list price and discounts available and the volume discounts available. This will ensure greater transparency and will be beneficial to consumers.
It is not possible completely to replicate the choice of cars cited by the European Commission in its regular price survey quoted in my Written Answer of 26 June since the Commission did not specify the precise variants that it had assessed. Therefore it 44WA should be noted that the figures below are not directly comparable with those quoted in my Written Answer.
There are, however, unofficial sources of new car price data. According to What Car, the prices of the three models quoted, for the following registration types, have been as follows for the two years 1999 and 2000 (in this case the figures are directly comparable since they are based on vehicles with identical or near identical specifications):
1999 T 2000 W Ford Focus: 1.6 Zetec Estate 5 door £ 13,620 £14,000 Ford Fiesta: 1.25 Zetec Hatchback 5 door £9,620 £9,850 Vauxhall Astra:1.6 LS 16v Hatchback 5 door £13,900 £13,345 Note: W: 3/00–8/00; T: 3/99–8/99
The particular models shown had a 2.8 per cent, 2.4 per cent and - 4.0 per cent change in price respectively. The overall change in price was 0.1 per cent.