Prime à la casse to be phased out

A BONUS for handing in an old, polluting car for scrapping at the same time as buying a new, eco-friendly one, will be phased out progressively.

It was originally planned that the prime à la casse – introduced in December last year as a way to boost the car industry – would come to an end on December 31. However interviewed by the financial newspaper Les Echos, Industry Minister Christian Estrosi said a “progressive” phasing out was now under consideration.

“We can’t maintain it indefinitely,” the minister said.

The prime consists of €1,000 off the price of a new car with emissions under 160g CO2/km if the buyer also scraps a car that is more than 10 years old.

The measure has been such a success, that despite the economic crisis, France saw a 7% year on year increase in new cars being licensed last month.