Written question asked by Ben Chapman (Labour) on Thursday, 27 January 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 10 February 2005. It was answered by Gerry Sutcliffe (Labour) on Thursday, 10 February 2005 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Dept of Trade and Industry

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, what assessment she has made of the difference in the purchase costs of new vehicles between the UK and (a) other European countries and (b) the USA.

Answer: Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the difference in the purchase costs of new vehicles between the UK and (a) other European countries and (b) the USA. [211899] Mr. Sutcliffe: In July 2004 my Department published "DTI Economic Paper No.9: The Benefits from Competition: Some illustrative examples", available at: www.dti.gov.uk/economics/economics paper9.pdf. The paper included an assessment of the effects of action by the competition authorities and changes in the competition regime on new car prices in the UK. In so doing the Report made reference to the reports of the European Commission on price differentials within the European Union, the latest of which was published on 29 July 2004 (www.europa.eu.int/comm/competition/ car sector/price diffs/). The DTI paper reported that new car prices in the UK had reduced, on average, by about 10 per cent. between April 2000 and October 2003 and that the European Commission research shows evidence that the disparity between new car prices in the UK and the rest of the Union had decreased. My Department has made no assessment of the difference in the purchase costs of new vehicles between the UK and the USA.

Secondary information