Amid increasing pollution, the French government has decided to completely do away with diesel-powered vehicles. Also, the country witnessed the second consecutive monthly drop in car sales.
While diesel vehicles seem to be in great demand in our country, with no regards to the amount of pollution they produce, the French government, in a brave move has decided to completely do away with diesel vehicles in their country by 2020. At present, approximately 80% of vehicles in France run on diesel. The government will be putting into place an innovative system that will identify the most polluting vehicles in the country. This vehicle identification system will be able to rank cars based on the amount of pollution they produce.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls has stated that favouring diesel fuel for such a long duration was a big mistake made by them. To divert citizens towards gas-powered cars, the government will revise the taxation system and reduce the tax advantages on diesel. The TICPE excise tax on diesel will be increased by 2 euro cents pet litre, with which the State is expected to earn approximately 807 million euros in 2015. The Energy Minister of France has also stated that owners who will scrap their diesel vehicles to go for an EV will be entitled to a bonus of 10,000 euros.
In other news, the number of new car registrations fell by 2.3% in France in November. This fall is recorded as a second consecutive monthly decline. A total of 1,35,070 vehicles were registered in November. While Renault’s market share fell by 5%, PSA Peugeot Citroen recorded a fall of 8.9%. Skoda though recorded a gain of 5.9% and Dacia was up by 2.3%.
