It was a campaign promise of the candidate Macron: “accessible” electric cars. Reservations for this electric rental car at “one hundred euros a month” should open in the fall of 2023, for delivery in 2024, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Friday.
“I can confirm that eligible people will be able, starting in the fall, to reserve their vehicle, which will be delivered to them in 2024,” Elisabeth Borne said when presenting her infrastructure plan.
“We want to make clean vehicles more attractive and accessible. That is the meaning of the conversion bonuses that we have expanded, or the increase in the ecological bonus ”, she underlined.
An offer not yet clear
The finance law for 2023 has integrated this support to the greening of the vehicle fleet for a value of 1,300 million euros. The rental offer at one hundred euros per month, reserved for the most modest households, is not yet clear and could imply large subsidies.
“We will deploy an affordable offer of electric vehicles (…) establishing leasing mechanisms to support the most modest households,” said candidate Emmanuel Macron during his first campaign speech for the presidential elections in March 2022.
This device, proposed for the first time by the socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo, would be added to a series of purchase aids that have triggered sales of electric cars, first favoring car buyers at 35 or 40,000 euros.
Emmanuel Macron’s campaign team explained in March 2022 that this device would be reserved for socio-medical professions, young people and the general public, subject to resource conditions. So it was targeting at least 100,000 EVs on lease per year.
Manufacturers such as Renault, Hyundai or the Chinese MG have recently launched long-term rental offers that could fit with this measure. In particular, if the first income (the contribution) is guaranteed by the Caisse des dépôts “for couples who earn the Smic or a little more”, as Emmanuel Macron had specified in 2022.
According to this formula, which is being developed in France between individuals, a manufacturer or a rental company offers a car at an attractive monthly price and collects it for resale after three or four years, adding penalties in the event of mileage or breakdown.
The idea is that this aid does not benefit vehicles produced outside of France or Europe. The Renault 5, with an estimated price of around 25,000 euros, should start manufacturing at the end of 2024 at the Maubeuge (North) factory.
Source: BFM TV
