Bonus-malus car scheme revised

THE bonus-malus scheme to encourage people to buy fuel-efficient cars is to be tightened again.

The highest malus tax on the most polluting vehicles is set to rise to €8,000 from €6,000 in the latest budget proposals.

However, the cash-strapped government is faced with a continuing problem of the nature of the bonus-malus.

The more effective the bonus-malus is in deterring the purchase of polluting cars (which raises funds for the government) and promoting the purchase of greener cars (which costs the government money), the more expensive it becomes.

One third of car sales in the first half of the year carried a bonus while sales of cars emitting more than 136g of CO2 have fallen 42%.

If the proposals are passed, high polluting vehicles, those that produce 200g of CO2 per km, such as Range Rovers and some Porches, could be taxed an extra €8,000, according to Les Echos. However no official figures have been announced.

The bonus for certain models is highly like to be revised.

© Sergiy Serdyuk - Fotolia.com