Car makers spent yesterday afternoon absorbing the sting in the tail of the Government's much-heralded car scrappage scheme, confirmed by Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling in his 2009 Budget speech.

Car brands were understandably deflated by the scheme's proviso that the Government would contribute £1,000 to the £2,000 consumer discount, on the understanding that car makers would contribute the other half.

Not quite the fillip that car marques had anticipated. Check out the reaction:

– Kia told whatcar.com, a sister title to Marketing Direct, that the Government was "only going half way" in its incentive to boost car sales. Paul Philpott, managing director of Kia UK, said: "The reality is that the Government is shifting a large part of the cost of this programme onto the shoulders of the manufacturers, when it is the manufacturers who are working hard night and day to deal with the effects of the economic turmoil and recession around the world."

– Citroen tried to say positive things about the Government scheme but added that it was a "complicated" incentive. Xavier Duchemin, managing director of Citroën UK told whatcar.com that the scheme is "good news for the industry and the car buyer and we'll support it. Finding £1000 on a car like a C1 will be difficult, but we'll find a way."

– A Ford UK spokesman told Marketing Direct that the required participation by car makers "wasn't anticipated, and it's different from other European scrappage schemes. We're going to need more details about it before we make any announcements." But Ford is still pushing ahead with its cash-for-bangers online promo.

– Honda likewise said it was "waiting to see the detail". A spokesperson said: "It's difficult to comment when nothing official has been released. We can't make any decisions from a marketing point of view, but we need to think how this is going to affect our existing marketing campaigns."

So should we feel sorry for car makers? 

Now that the dust has settled, the answer must be no.

The car market was stimulated in the past few years by the same subprime lending as we saw in housing, which post-credit crunch has led to car overcapacity.

One DM agency director yesterday pointed out a certain car maker that was planning to produce several thousand extra units to tie in with the scrappage programme, "but the feeling is that [the Government's proposal] is not rich enough to support those incremental sales".

But why should government intervene in a free market system to overcome market failure?

Adding to the UK's burgeoning public debt by giving large sums of money to fuel car sales doesn't make sense. It's time for a correction, some pain and hopefully a return to a sustainable car business.