Ford is offering up to £7,000 off the cost of new vehicles as part of a scrappage scheme to promote the use of greener cars and vans.
The car giant will allow any car or van owner to trade in vehicles registered before December 2009, when new Europe-wide emissions standards were introduced.
Consumers will be given at least £2,000 off new Ford models ranging in price from about £12,000 to more than £20,000.
Vauxhall and BMW have already announced similar schemes, as the car industry struggles to address the air pollution issue and the fallout from the VW emissions scandal.
Ford said that the scrappage incentive together with other standard offers, could see customers receive up to £4,000 off a car or £7,000 off the cost of a van.
Andy Barratt, chairman and managing director of Ford of Britain, said: ‘Ford shares society’s concerns over air quality. 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.
‘We don’t believe incentivising sales of new cars goes far enough and we will ensure that all trade-in vehicles are scrapped.’
The Government did not include a scrappage scheme in its clean air strategy, announced in July, although environment secretary Michael Gove did pledge to launch a consultation on a ‘targeted’ scheme later in the year. The Government also said new diesel and petrol cars would be banned from 2040.
