History of a concept. The defenders of the status quo have found their shock formula. We would go straight, they say, towards a “havanization” of the automobile. The concept emerged in the wake of the agreement concluded on October 27, 2022 in Brussels between the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, setting the end of the sale of combustion engine vehicles at 2035.
It was Jens Gieseke, German Conservative MEP, member of the European People’s Party (EPP, parliamentary group of the conservative right) who was the first to popularize the formula. “With this agreement, does he say, the “Havana effect” becomes more realistic. After 2035, our streets could become full of old cars, because new cars are unavailable or unaffordable. » Like the old American cars of the 1950s that we come across in Cuba, patched up by Cuban motorists for lack of being able to acquire modern models.
Brandished by all those who denounce “electric utopia”, the specter of havanization conjures up the prospect of a slide towards inevitable impoverishment and the old foil of omnipotent public power. The one that imposes on car manufacturers – and therefore on motorists – a single and unique technology in the name of protecting the health of populations. A trial in “dogmatism” – to use the favorite expression of the boss of the Stellantis group, Carlos Tavares, great slayer of electrification – brought to Europe by a good part of the automotive industry.
While it is true that the disconnect between the price of electric cars and the purchasing power of most French people is obvious, it should be remembered that the automobile did not wait for the era of “watture” to ( re)become a luxury product. Over the past ten years, the average price of thermal vehicles has increased by 36% – well above inflation – and by more than 10% over the past year.
nostalgic look
This chronic increase in prices, due to the fact that brands favor the production of the most profitable models, and therefore the most expensive, has been accentuated by the shortage of components and has already largely excluded the middle classes from the new home market. It has also increased the age of buyers, which is now approaching 60, and accelerated the aging of the vehicle fleet. In 2022, the average age of vehicles circulating in France reached eleven years compared to ten and a half years in 2020 and eight years in 2010.
You have 53.35% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.