er the car scrappage scheme isn't a "green" measure it's an economic
one to help the car companies through the downturn without giving
them a direct cash hand out.

The government justified it in a number of ways, including claiming that it
was environmentally friendly. Do a bit of googling and you will see the
published documentation. It includes claims as to how quickly the
initiative would save the additional CO2 used during manufacture of the
cars.

If the real figure is 60 years rather than 6 (I may recall that wrongly, but
it was about that), then it changes the whole thing, and it would almost
certainly not have been implemented. Could you imagine the political
outrage?

SteveT