Accelerator boost on auto bonus / malus

► What has the government announced? ?

To encourage the purchase of vehicles that emit less greenhouse gases and support sales of electric cars, Nicolas Hulot and Élisabeth Borne, ministers of transport and ecology, wanted to reinforce the automobile bonus / malus . The "clean mobility" plan, presented on Friday, July 20, provides for a reduction of the trigger threshold of the penalty of 3 grams of CO2 per kilometer in 2019.

The threshold for triggering the malus, which can be as high as 10 500 €, will spend next year at 117 grams per kilometer, compared with 120 currently. This decline should continue in the coming years the plan specifies.

The ecological bonus, which benefits including purchasers of electric vehicles, will "maintained at a high level" also specifies the plan. 19659006] Nicolas Hulot at the time of the balance sheet

► What is the balance sheet of the bonus-malus?

According to the figures of the general rapporteur of the budget in the National Assembly, the deputy (LREM) Joel Giraud, the malus automobile is expected to bring this year some 475 million euros, against an initial estimate of 388 million euros.

This is a new record since the introduction of the device ten years ago. In 2017, the revenue from the malus amounted to 352 million euros.

This surplus is already explained by the lowering of the application threshold of the motor penalty to 120 grams of CO2 per kilometer, a level which concerns a large number of vehicles

The revenue generated is used to finance bonuses, as well as a conversion bonus designed to encourage the removal of the most polluting diesel vehicles.

► Is it efficient in ecological terms?

An objective of reducing the average emissions from the car fleet was set in the framework of the Grenelle de l'environnement: from 176 grams of CO ₂ per kilometer in 2006 to 120 grams by 2020. The automobile "bonus-malus" system must contribute to achieving these objectives, by encouraging buyers to favor low-carbon vehicles, by accelerating fleet renewal, but also by stimulating the technological innovation of the builders.

Against the pollution of the transports, measures announced but no revolution

The direction of the tax legislation affirms, according to the report of the deputy Joël Giraud, to have noted a decrease sales of vehicles emitting between 125 and 135 grams of CO ₂ per kilometer – which was precisely the goal.

The report also notes the success of the conversion premiums, whose criteria were reviewed on January 1, 2018: 51,698 applications were validated during the first 6 months of the year (80% of the vehicles discarded were diesel), compared to 7,909 bonuses granted in 2017.

Regarding the bonus , the general rapporteur of the Budget in the National Assembly counted 96 767 aids paid between the 1 ^and January and March 31, 2018. They concern, for the most part, acquisi made in 2017.

"The legislator considers that the development of the electric vehicle can not be done without strong and lasting financial incentives to the consumer, notes the report. As recently stated by France Stratégie, the maintenance of current financial aid remains necessary as long as the cost of the electric vehicle is higher than that of the thermal vehicle.

Séverin Husson