Since last week, all the manufacturers established in France have started to reopen their factories one by one. But to return to pre-coronavirus production, it will be necessary to sell the cars that leave the workshops downstream. But will the French, also affected by the health and economic crisis, rush into the concessions to buy a new car?
According to our information, the government is working, with the help of research firms, on various measures to boost demand. "Given the scale of the crisis, it is absolutely essential to boost sales, at the risk of manufacturers and subcontracting SMEs leaving their feathers behind," confides a source.
Objective: complete the conversion bonus and ecological bonus schemes to support the sector, which in 2020 anticipates a fall of 30 to 40% in the world automobile market, compared to 2019.
Supporting electricity and opening up the ecological bonus
The first measure would consist in reverting to the old amount of the ecological bonus applied to electric vehicles (such as Renault Zoé, Nissan Leaf, Hyundai Ioniq, etc.), for company fleets. Until December 31, in fact, the State paid up to € 6,000 per vehicle to companies that acquired this type of model for their fleets.
Since January 1, this bonus has been halved to 3000 euros. And must still suffer the same fate next year, at 1,500 euros, before disappearing completely, probably in 2022. Machine back then, in order to boost the electric whose sales have increased in recent months, due to a tightening of European regulations on polluting emissions.
Second target: individuals. If a priori it is not planned to touch the ceiling of 6000 euros in ecological bonuses for 100% electric vehicles, rechargeable hybrids that combine two engines (thermal and electric) could finally be part of the eligible technologies. Their ecological bonus would nevertheless be lower than that intended for electric vehicles. This measure was demanded by the two French manufacturers. Their plug-in hybrid models (Megane and Captur at Renault; DS7 and DS3, Peugeot 3008, 508 and 208, Citroën C5 Aircross, on the PSA side), are already, or will be at the time of their marketing, produced in France.
A boost for used spare parts
A differentiated VAT compared to thermal engines (diesel or petrol) could also be implemented for these same rechargeable hybrids, but also for 100% electric vehicles. Today it is 20% for all new cars, regardless of the technology used for their engine. Nothing, however, for non-rechargeable hybrid cars, which will remain excluded from these devices.
The acquisition of second-hand spare parts could also be the subject of a boost, by entering the device of the conversion premium. A long-standing request from the CNPA (National Committee of the Automotive Professions). Concretely, the scrapping bonus only applies today for the replacement of an old vehicle. Tomorrow, it could also help with certain repair or maintenance work, in order to improve its ecological performance (for example by replacing the exhaust air pollution control system). The VAT of these second-hand spare parts (and the labor that goes with them), could also drop - at least temporarily - from 20% currently, at a lower rate.
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A big flat all the same in this package of measures currently under study: nothing is planned to change the habits of motorists. For example by creating dedicated lanes for electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles. Or parking spaces and tolls at reduced rates. So many measures that have largely contributed to the development of electric and plug-in hybrid in the countries they have been implemented. As in Norway for example, where one car sold in two is now electric. Ditto for incentives or obligations to install charging stations in the parking lots of condominiums, and whose deployment is for the moment in neutral. Contacted, the Ministry of Economy did not respond to our requests.
