Cashback plan to revive France’s car industry

France has announced a plan to revive its ailing car industry. Anyone buying a new car will get special reductions for how green they go.

Electric car buyers who previously got 5,000 euros off the price of their car will now get 7,000 off. Hybrid car buyers will receive a reduction of 4,000 euros and gas guzzlers will be more expensive by anything between 200 to 3,600 euros.

Amongst car industry experts there is some doubt about whether this carrot and stick approach will work. Car expert Bernard Julien says that the government plan does nothing to help the problems of the Peugeot Citroen group at a time when it has announced heavy losses.

France’s main competition comes from the Asia. Sales of South Korean cars have soared since the signing of an EU Free Trade Agreement in 2011. France has asked for monitoring from Brussels in order to defend their industry.

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