In early 1981, a German company named Markant sparked a cross-Channel car-buying frenzy by advertising Ford Granada Ghias for virtually half price, requiring only a chartered bus ride to Antwerp. The savings averaged 25%, with up to 15% off Volkswagen Golf GTIs. Markant bypassed traditional dealers by importing right-hand-drive vehicles directly from Belgium, registering them in Britain under a loophole exempting personally imported cars from National Type Approval. This legal workaround exploited freedoms granted after Britain joined the Common Market in 1973.
Legal Battles and Regulatory Pushback
Official importers viewed the scheme as an attack on their marketing structure. Markant’s boss, Hans Georg Wiesner, fired back: if importers lowered UK prices to West German levels, he could be put out of business overnight. By mid-1981, personal imports had surged, with over 40,000 of the 1.5 million new cars registered in Britain that year arriving via this route. Volkswagen estimated that only 260 of the 837 right-hand-drive cars imported in early 1981 belonged to military personnel—the group the exemption was meant to serve.
Some buyers learned costly lessons about specification differences. One reader saved £2,300 by importing an Audi Coupé from the Continent but later discovered it lacked £700 worth of standard UK features, including power steering and electric windows. In Northern Ireland, nearly 73% of Mazdas registered in June 1982 were imported from Ireland, prompting local dealers to worry about lost sales.
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The European Commission backed consumers’ right to import vehicles, ruling that Ford could not ban right-hand-drive sales in left-hand-drive markets. Ford lost subsequent court cases in 1985 when a new EU law allowed third parties to handle imports on behalf of buyers. Despite predictions of collapse, the personal import market persisted due to favorable exchange rates and relaxed regulations.
The SMMT lobbied the Thatcher government to close the loophole, but efforts proved fruitless. British Leyland responded by raising Belgian prices for UK-spec models, while an MEP filed a complaint with the European Commission over Britain’s Type Approval rules.
Market Expansion and Regulatory Challenges
The scheme’s viability stemmed from post-1973 Common Market freedoms, enabling cross-border vehicle movement. Markant’s British operations initially operated from a flat above VAG Ltd’s headquarters, though this arrangement ended when authorities evicted the company for conducting business at a residential address.
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Northern Ireland dealers faced significant disruption as buyers exploited personal import routes, with 78 of 107 Mazdas registered in June 1982 originating from Ireland. Ford encountered legal setbacks when the European Court of Justice upheld Commission rulings requiring the company to permit right-hand-drive vehicle sales in left-hand-drive markets.
The Slow Deflation of the Market
A European directive capping pre-tax price variations at 12% between member states further squeezed margins. The bubble didn’t burst, then, but it did start to deflate, the air being sucked out by a weakened pound; a European directive dictating that pre-tax prices of cars mustn’t vary by more than 12% between member countries; and, as we put it, “the introduction of more or less permanent discounting in the UK”.
There was something of a revival as the pound strengthened through the late 1990s and into the 2000s, but the subsequent rise of car financing and Brexit complications have since killed the financial advantages.
