I remember French cars used to have two stickers on the windshield: one was for the insurance certificate (something they still have to display today) and the other one was the road tax. The latter has since been phased out, but it seems that it's making a comeback. The reason? The Bonus/Malus system that will offer purchase tax savings if your new car has low enough CO₂ emission levels. The trouble is that this plan is costing France a lot of money -- about €200 million per year. Therefore, the French government is thinking about taxing very polluting cars on a yearly basis. The system, which would be similar to the UK's Road Tax bands, would use the Euro norm to determine a vehicle's duty, based on its CO₂ emission levels. The latter were only made mandatory in the car's documentation starting in 2004, which opens big questions as to how the system will be deployed on older cars. Thanks to Dominique for the tip!

[Source: Le Blog Auto]

My, how the tables have turned. First, it was Germany that was in opposition to stringent emissions standards in the European Union which would have regulated the amount of carbon dioxide a vehicle can emit, beginning in 2012. German automakers tend to make large, luxurious vehicles with big, powerful engines. France, though, did not want to see changes made to the regulations, as its automakers already were close to meeting the proposals and thought it would be unfair to make concessions just for German brands. So, the two countries had a little meeting and came to some sort of agreement which would not go into effect until 2015.

Now, it's Italy that is in opposition to the French and German deal, as Italian automakers also offer rather efficient vehicles. Italian environment minister Stefania Prestigiacomo calls the new proposal unacceptable and feels that it would put the Italian companies at a disadvantage to its competition. We wonder what the final regulations may look like once every country has had its say in what should be done.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req'd]

Every time an automaker announces a green signature label, one of the factory-installed features to reduce fuel consumption is probably low-rolling resistance tires. French magazine Autoplus did a test drive on a regular car, to see how much fuel these tires save. The magazine wanted to run the test because France is considering adopting a bonus/malus system on these tires for 2010, whereby tires that save fuel would get a tax exemption.

For the challenge, Autoplus got two Peugeot 308s, one fueled by gasoline and the other fueled by diesel, and they kept on changing their tires. They tested fuel consumption with regular tires and with "CO₂ reducing tires." Their verdict? Keep security in mind. Only low-rolling resistance tires that came from well-known brands (Michelin, Goodyear, Continental and Pirelli) performed correctly and kept braking distances and other security features almost intact. Their winner was Michelin (which are made in France) which stayed safe while offering fuel savings of 1 percent with gasoline and 3.8 with diesel fuel. Of course, it doesn't matter if your tires are lrr type or not - keep them properly inflated.

[Source: Autoplus]

Paris is a city with its fair share of traffic problems. It's also the largest city where a public bicycle rental service is being used, very successfully (Ve'lib) and we already knew about the city's plans to install a similar service featuring electric cars. An EV rental plan even helped the Mayor win re-election, and more information about this plan has now been unveiled. First of all, the fleet is going to be exclusively electric, with 4,000 units. That's a very large order for a single model of a vehicle - but which model has not yet been announced. The system, called Auto'lib, which means "Auto à libre disposition" (Help-yourself car) will not only be installed in the city itself, but it will cover the suburbs (banlieue), expanding the range that the bike rental service operates in.

The scheduled roll-out date is late 2009 and to handle the 4,000 EVs the system will have 700 stations (with 200 of them underground) and a powerful computer system coordinating the rentals. Prices aren't yet known (rumors hint at about €250 per month, including full insurance), but it seems likely that Parisians will be able to enjoy the service with their regular "Navigo" mass transit cards.

[Source: Evous]

In France, if you don't keep your car properly maintained, watch out. If your car pollutes too much, the police can fine you between €45 and 68 ($70-105 US). The police are even equipped with mobile pollution testers that have a CO (carbon monoxide) detector for gasoline vehicles and an opacimeters to detect abnormal CO₂ levels for diesels. With the treat of coming to you to analyze your car's fumes, the French government wants motorists to maintain their vehicles properly and, eventually, will ban the most polluting ones.

Last year, more than 1,700 controls were made, which uncovered 360 contraventions in Paris alone. The French government wants to make clear that car pollution is not only the manufacturers' responsibility, but the driver's as well. Similar controls exist in Spain, where noise pollution is also taken into consideration.

[Source: Autoplus]

The French Association of Ecological Cars (Association des Voitures Ecologiques, AVE) was born this week. What's this non-profit organization all about? Basically, it will focus its efforts on promoting benefits for drivers who try to drive green. For instance, one of its first efforts will be the creation of a "green disk" which will allow drivers with cleaner cars (defined by those running on LPG, CNG, hybrids, EVs or polluting less than 120g/km of CO₂) to be exempt from parking fees. The AVE is also demanding zero interest loans when purchasing green cars and getting rid of an old bagnole (car).

The promoter of this association is conservative French congressman Claude Gatignol, who joined forces with former rally driver Bernard Darniche, a former ministry of Ecology (Serge Lepeltier), several congressmen and representatives from important companies such as La Poste (French Postal Service), Gaz de France, Electricité de France and auto makers such as Renault and Toyota.

[Source: Le Blog Auto]

Ségolène Royal (left) was the Socialist candidate who lost the French Presidential election and is currently the president of the Poitou-Charentes region. She said last weekend that Total, the big French oil company whose CEO thinks gas is cheap, should give back part of its profits to the people. Her idea is to have the company investing up to 80 percent of those profits in renewable energies. She said that this would help France be ready for the post-oil era. In addition, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë (right), who also belongs to the Socialist Party, added that, "Oil companies' profits should be heavily taxed because they're earning a lot of money during a terrible crisis."

While the current French government claimed that Ms. Royal was "exaggerating as usual," Total is, indeed, helping France. Total has given between €140 and 200 million to the French government in January and will likely give some more this summer.

[Source: Libération]

Blocked borders, fuel pumps running out of gasoline, supermarkets that don't get fresh produce supply ... these are just a few of the consequences of a strike by Spanish and French truckers against high diesel prices. The strike is taking place this week. Currently, diesel prices are around €1.30/liter in Spain and €1.45 in France (that translates to $7.71 U.S. and $8.62 a gallon, respectively. You can see energy prices for all EU country members here). Those prices might be high compared to other countries, but that's not all that's not all the drivers are mad about: diesel prices have jumped up 40 percent in less than a year.

Major cities in Spain such as Valencia, Madrid or Barcelona suffered traffic jams because of demonstrations where trucks were driven at low speeds, making getting around difficult for other vehicles (the picture above shows one of Barcelona's main entry, the C-58 highway). The two main borders between Spain and France, La Jonquera and Irun, were also blocked and demonstrators prevented any truck from crossing. In response, the Spanish government offered an agreement to the Freight Unions. It includes a flexible fare system where transport could reflect fuel prices directly, as well as other measures like subventions for early retirement.


[Source: El País]

The European Mobility Week is an event held in Europe to promote the use of public transport. The goal is to convince motorists to switch their cars and motorbikes for buses, trains, trams, subways and bicycles. Usually, participating cities prepare a set of activities, but this year France decided to push the idea nationwide. This means that up to 110 public transport networks will work together on September 17th to provide unlimited public transport for €1. For the sake of comparison, a single bus ride in Paris on most days costs €1.50. The initiative was announced by a lobby called "Target: public transport," which aims to promote public transport as "a mandatory mobility solution to face the environmental, social and economic challenges of today."

[Source: Autoplus]

We take it for granted that Europeans love diesels. This is quite a save statement if you're talking about countries like France or Spain, where diesel sales make up around 65 percent of all car sold. This might be changing, though, as recent changes in fuel prices has made the diesel vehicles less attractive. Since February, diesel has been more expensive than gasoline in Spain. The same shift happened in France in May and a similar situation is happening in Germany. This brings about at least two interesting situations.

First of all, the decline in car sales in Spain is affecting diesel cars more than petrol ones. The high diesel prices hurt, but a new registration tax scheme made for a milder decrease in sales of small and subcompact cars than in past months. A bit of surprising news comes from Germany, where one out of four diesel owners state that their next new car will likely be a gasoline vehicle, thanks in part to the complexity of owning a diesel and the high repair costs. Things even look worse for old models: those cars not fitted with Diesel Particulate Filters aren't likely to be purchased second hand (and will probably end up in Southern Europe), mostly due to the restrictions in some cities.

[Source: El País, Auto-Presse]

Citroën has decided to adapt the middle model of the C3 lineup to run on compressed natural gas (CNG). The CNG version manages to reduce by 18 percent the amount of CO₂ produced by km compared to the 1.4l gasoline engined C3. Specifically, the C3 produces 159 g/km when running on unleaded and just 119 g/km when running on CNG. The C3 has 75 HP (68 running on CNG) and still manages to make 36 mpg (U.S.) on the EU mixed cycle when running on unleaded. A fully-equipped C3 costs about €16,000 in France, where only 50 CNG stations exist. The target market here is clearly Germany.

[Source: Citroën via Leblogauto]

A short while ago we reported about an unknown group called FNAR (Fraccion Nationaliste Armé Révolutionaire) that was bombing speed-control radars in France. The government claims with radars are in use to reduce accidents and to lower pollution levels by forcing speed reduction. Last week, a man aged 31 was seriously wounded when he was manipulating one of these bombs in an apartment in Hauts de Seine, France. The guy said he belonged to the FNAR and the police found a small laboratory where he presumably produced the explosives. However, the FNAR doesn't seem to be a group made up of enraged motorists; the group acts and talks like a terrorist one, asking for €4 million to stop bombings and spreading several extreme rightwing messages.

[Source: Le Monde]

Europe's largest Solar Rally departed from Barcelona, Spain, yesterday and is expected to arrive in Toulouse, France, on June 7th. That's about 250 miles over the course of a week. This is the seventh edition of the Rally, organized by non-profit organizations Volt-Tour and Phebus Ariège. Any vehicles can participate, as long as they satisfy a single condition: all of their energy must be obtained from sunlight, either with on-board or auxiliary photovoltaic panels.

The Rally defines itself as a forum for solar car developers to communicate instead of simply a race. And don't miss the scoring system: Cars don't get points depending on their speed and how much time it takes for them to make a certain lap, but on how little energy they need.

The Rally also takes in consideration additional measures to produce as little carbon as possible. First of all, the Rally produces all of the hot water it needs using solar energy, and the safety car is a Toyota Prius. Any energy that they need to produce that doesn't come from solar radiation gets offset via the purchase of carbon rights.

[Source: Rallyesolaire (h/t to Imma)]

Renault decided to enter the SUV (or SAV or Crossover, one can't be so sure about labels anymore) market this year with the Koleos. Co-developed and produced at Samsung Motors in South Korea, the Koleos is a not-too-distant relative of the Nissan Rogue.

French automakers are quite fond of being the champions of low-CO₂ motoring in Europe (along with Fiat) and they market their vehicles accordingly. Marketing and reality don't always meet, and so four environmental organisations (Agir pour l'environnement, Réseau action climat, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth) headed by French congressman Yves Cochet of the Green Party gave Renault a "Green Award" for selling such a polluting vehicle, referring to the 2.0 dCi AWD version of the Koleos, which produces 209 g/km of CO₂. Marc Grimaldi from Renault accepted the "award," while defending Renault's point of view, in the most sporting manner.

[Source: Rue89 via Leblogauto]

The German arguments to European Commission rules aimed at lowering average vehicle CO₂ emissions has been well covered. Because many of the major German brands make large, powerful vehicles, the German administration felt that they were being dealt with unfairly. France, for its part, has automakers which quite nearly complied with the proposed standards just as they were and did not want to see German automakers get any special treatment. Can't we all just get along? Maybe, since Automotive News is reporting that representatives from the two feuding nations have gotten together and are hashing out their differences. We don't have any details on just what changes are being suggested to the proposal, but an anonymous source claims that there are few sticking points left on the table. According to reports, France would like to see a deal made before June 9, when there is a meeting between Frech President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel scheduled in Bavaria. Stay tuned.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]