France unveils US$8.8b plan to revive auto sector through electric cars

ETAPLES, France: President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday (May 26) announced an 8-billion euro (US$8.8 billion) plan to revive France's auto industry by making it the European leader in electric cars, in a boost for a sector brought to its knees by the coronavirus.

Macron said the package would include one billion euros in subsidies for electric and hybrid cars, adding France should be producing a million green cars annually by 2025.

The "historic" intervention will aim to turn France's rechargeable car industry into Europe's biggest, the president said.

Visiting a car factory in Etaples in northern France, Macron said his government would seek to boost flagging customer demand with a subsidy of 7,000 euros for each individual buying an electric car, 5,000 for each company purchase, and 2,000 per hybrid rechargeable car.

Starting Jun 1, there would also be an aid of 3,000 euros for converting from a petrol-fuelled car to a less-polluting one - and as much as 5,000 euros to upgrade to an electric vehicle, the president said.

"In total, the state will provide a bit more than 8 billion euros in aid to the sector," said Macron.

France, the home of Renault, Citroen and Peugeot, has seen car sales and revenue slashed by some 80 per cent as a result of a two-month nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus, said Macron.

By the end of June, some half a million cars will have gone unsold, compared to the previous season.

"This has never been seen by this sector which represents close to 16 per cent of the revenue of our industrial sector," said the president.

The car industry in France comprises some 4,000 businesses and 400,000 employees.

Macron also announced that embattled Renault has agreed to join a Franco-German project to produce electric batteries for the rechargeable auto industry.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has said Renault would need to join the project, which already includes competitor PSA, in order to receive a five billion-euro government rescue loan.

France's cumulative death toll from coronavirus infection rose by 73 or 0.3 per cent to 28,530 on Tuesday, a similar rate of increase as the day before despite health authorities having resumed taking into account nursing home data after a four-day interruption.

In a statement, the health ministry said the number of fatalities was up 83 in hospitals, to 18,195. But the death toll in nursing homes has been revised to 10,335, 10 fewer than the last time it was published.

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