The cheapest electric car will soon be… a little more expensive. As of January 1, 2024, the Dacia Spring should no longer be eligible for the ecological bonus, which allows it this year to benefit from a public subsidy of at least 5,000 euros.
A pro-Europe bond
It was the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, who confirmed it to TF1 on Tuesday, September 5, giving some details about this new bonus, which should further favor vehicles produced with a favorable carbon footprint and, therefore, as much, indirectly, to those produced in Europe.
“A car made in China, with electricity from coal, will not be able to enjoy this ecological bonus because its environmental score will not be good,” explains the minister.
The Government will soon have to detail this system, unprecedented in Europe, which will not allocate aid based solely on the level of CO2 emissions of the vehicle used, but also taking production into account, with this “environmental score”.
At the end of last July we learned that the carbon footprint of the different materials used (steel, aluminum, glass, etc.) and the manufacturing conditions of the battery would be taken into account. After production, the score will also vary according to the means of transport to be transported to France (boat, train or plane) and the type of vehicle (urban or family, for example).
Dacia Spring and MG4 excluded from the bonus…
On this last point, and knowing that the Dacia Spring is assembled in China, rumors estimated that the vehicle could still retain its advantage, citing in particular its very small dimensions, 3.73 meters long, little more than a Twingo, or even a battery with a rather limited capacity of 28 kWh.
But the low cost brand of the Renault group would lose the bonus of the only 100% electric vehicle in its range:
“Under the current production conditions, models like the Dacia Spring or the MG type models should not benefit from the eco bonus next year,” said Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
The current price of the Dacia Spring is 15,800 euros, premium deducted. Therefore, it would automatically end at the price of 20,800 euros on January 1, 2024 without the bonus.
More versatile, the MG4 (MG brand, the British brand bought in 2007 by the Chinese SAIC group) currently offers one of the best quality-price ratios on the French market, with a starting price of 29,990 euros, that is, 24,990 euros with the bonus. 2023.
At the end of August, these two models were respectively in second place (18,589 sales for the Dacia Spring) and seventh place (10,254 sales for the MG4) in the ranking of the best-selling electric cars in France. In total, the Government calculates that 40% of the budget of 1,200 million euros allocated to the bonus is allocated to vehicles assembled in China.
…and Tesla?
Number one in sales of electric vehicles in France: the Tesla Model Y, 22,423 units since the beginning of the year. A vehicle that has the particularity of being produced both in China, at the Tesla factory in Shanghai, and in Europe, at the Giga Berlin.
While most of Tesla’s electric SUVs were still produced in China last year, this proportion has reversed since the beginning of the year. In the first quarter, nearly two-thirds of Model Ys sold in Europe were produced in Berlin, Inovev told us.
By contrast, all Model 3 sedans sold in Europe and Asia-Oceania are produced in Shanghai. It is for this reason that the “improved” version just introduced is not yet offered in North America.
The list of eligible models is awaited.
Agnès Pannier-Runacher did not mention Tesla, which would therefore lose at least its bonus on the Model 3. The saloon would then be sold at its current price of 42,990 euros. A comparable Renault Mégane E-Tech would thus obtain a price advantage, whose current price (with bonus) is around 40,000 euros.
Other models that should still benefit from the bonus and mentioned by the minister: the new Renault Scénic and the future R5 (produced in Douai as the Mégane), the Fiat 500e (Italy) or the Peugeot e-208 (Spain, since the restyling ). version released last June).
“It is a victory for the French, a victory for employment and a victory for the planet”, summed up the Minister for the Ecological Transition, announcing in passing that the amount of the bonus should be increased (see box).
“The list of eligible vehicles will be communicated at the end of the year,” he said.
We will also see if other European countries will follow this model of the new French bond to take more advantage of this incentive to produce electric vehicles mainly in Europe, batteries included, in the coming years.
A bond collected in 2024, the good surprise
“We are going to reinforce the ecological bonus so that electric cars are more accessible, in particular for French people with medium incomes and who use their car a lot,” Agnès Pannier-Runacher also announced to TF1.
A surprising fact, with the desire to reduce public spending since the end of the “whatever it takes”, decreed in particular by the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire, we rather expected a drop in bonuses. A logical change, however, to encourage the French to opt for electric, especially if this aid focuses more on models produced in Europe.
If the minister does not specify how much the new bonus would be, it could return to its 2022 level of 6,000 euros, along with higher aid for low-income households. In 2023, it was reduced to 5,000 euros without income conditions, and to 7,000 euros for households with a reference tax income of less than 14,089 euros.
Source: BFM TV
