While new car sales have been gradually picking up in recent months, the government has opted to make a new environmental tax adjustment in its 2024 budget. Next year, motorists who absolutely want a 100% thermal model will be more involved. In the first place, they will be concerned about a reduction in the triggering thresholds for the penalty that refers to CO2 emissions, as well as the one that applies to the weight of the model acquired.
According to the newspaper Les Echos, generally very well informed, we would go from 123 to 118 grams of CO2 per kilometer. Which specifically means that the list of models of thermal cars that escape the sanction will be further reduced. For the weight penalty, the chosen option would be to go from 1.8 to 1.6 tons, which would prevent buyers of the Peugeot 5008 or Renault’s New Space from having to pay it.
100,000 euros of sanction?
The other novelty of 2024 concerns a significantly smaller number of people. As Bruno Le Maire announced in May, the penalty will no longer be capped. Already this year the ceiling had been revised upwards, from 40,000 to 50,000 euros. But from next year the most polluting cars, cars equipped with combustion engines as powerful as they are voracious, will be subject to a penalty fully proportional to their CO2 emissions. We could therefore approach 100,000 euros.
Will it really be prohibitively expensive for those who have the means to buy this type of car? We can imagine that some of the wealthy fans of sports cars or ultra-luxury limousines will opt for the electric version of the car of their dreams.
But it is also likely that with such a high penalty, another part of them will look for a solution to have fun escaping from this tax: purchase or long-term rental, through a company, of the desired model in one of the European countries. where this type of sanction is very low or non-existent. Cars that will circulate in France with foreign registration.
Half a billion euros more in the state coffers
The government also intends to further tax the car fleets of companies that remain too loyal to the old diesel engines. In fact, electric cars are still too rare in company car fleets. Therefore, the government will use a double tax lever to push companies to green their fleet with increased taxes on both CO2 emissions and vehicle age.
All these measures are not only aimed at greening new car purchases. It’s also about getting more money into the coffers. Reinforcing the polluter pays principle could generate €500 million.
On the other hand, if you want to buy an electric car, the State will continue to lower the price with a bonus and a possible conversion premium.. Even for those who appreciate SUVs. Cars that weigh a lot but, next year, will continue to escape the weight penalty. On the other hand, the financial support of the State has been redesigned to exclude aid for electric cars “made in China”.
Source: BFM TV
