France subsidises Norway car sales

NORWEGIAN car dealers are using a €7,000 “green” bonus from the French government to buy cars and then resell them back home.

The ruse means that dozens of electric cars are running on Norwegian roads funded, in part, by the French taxpayer.

Oslo dealer Sandvika Bil says 70% of its sales are Nissan Leaf electric cars imported from France and exploiting the loophole. So far it has imported about 40 Leafs and benefited from bonuses of about €280,000 from French taxpayers.

Norwegian business newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv highlighted the loophole and said that it was sufficient to have an address in France to benefit – and Sandvika Bil has one through its shareholding in a French company.

The paper said that “a handful” of Scandinavian dealers were benefiting from the flaw and, even after paying to get the cars transported north, made enough off the deal to allow them to cut the price of cars to buyers.