Social leasing has worked too well. While the State planned to subsidize 20,000 electric cars, the system has received 90,000 requests since its launch in December 2023. “Victim of his own success”, as Roland Lescure pointed out on France 3 in the program Dimanche en politique on February 11, 2024, the system is interrupted by the government, at least for 2024.
Faced with this situation, the Minister of Industry and Energy confirmed to France 3 that the State will finance 50,000 electric cars instead of the 20,000 planned. “We will do it, but we will do it while ensuring a good cadence [sic]”, specifies Roland Lescure. As a reminder, the vehicles eligible for social leasing are all built in Europe, with only one being assembled in France.
The minister thus reinforces the words of his colleague in charge of the ecological transition, Christophe Béchu, who indicated last January that the government was working with car manufacturers “to see if we can make 30, 35, 40,000 vehicles”.
“It’s going a little faster than we thought. We will perhaps slow down a little, give ourselves time to produce French, and then accelerate, accelerate, accelerate…”, adds Roland Lescure. The Minister of Industry and Energy thus makes an appointment in “end of year or beginning of next year” for concrete information on the future of social leasing.
For information, the system was reserved for French people driving more than 8,000 km per year or living more than 15 km from their work, and having a reference tax income of less than €15,400. Taking the form of a three-year rental with option to purchase (LOA) system, renewable once, social leasing provided access to an electric car at €100 per month for a city car and €150 per month. month for a family. As a bonus, the State paid the first rent, a barrier to purchasing among the most modest households.