A few days ago, the Minister of Ecology announced that the MG4 and Dacia Spring would be deprived of bonuses in a few months. But be careful, because nothing is less certain, since we contacted the Chinese manufacturer who has another vision of the situation.
Much has been said about the future ecological bonus. As a reminder, it is supposed to partially exclude electric cars produced in China. This is the case for many models, including those from European manufacturers (Smart #1, Smart #3, Dacia Spring) or even American (Tesla Model 3 and certain Model Y). The objective of this new bonus is to avoid giving too much weight to Chinese industry (protectionism), while reducing the environmental impact of the production of electric cars (ecology). The cause: the excessively carbon-intensive electricity used in China to manufacture cars.
MG and Dacia on the decline, but not Tesla?
At the beginning of September, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the Minister of Ecology, announced on TF1 that the MG4 and Dacia Spring will be deprived of the new ecological bonus, because of the coal used by Chinese power stations to fuel production plants. The Tesla Model 3 and Model Y were not mentioned, which allowed us to see hope.
Because as our colleague from Numerama, electric cars made in China could continue to benefit from the bonus under certain conditions. If the manufacturer can prove, in particular, that its factory is “carbon neutral”, that is to say that it uses low-carbon energy, for example. We imagine that Tesla’s brand new factory in Shanghai is likely to be part of this small closed circle.
MG brings hope
But what about MG? We contacted the brand to find out more. And there is hope that the bonus will continue to be awarded to certain electric cars from the SAIC subsidiary. Indeed, the brand’s spokesperson told us that the minister had moved a little too quickly. The reason: the analysis of the various SAIC production plants in China has not yet been completed. In other words: no one yet knows if certain MG electric cars could be entitled to an exemption to continue to benefit from the ecological bonus.
The model most likely to benefit from the ecological bonus in the future is the MG4. It is the only car from the manufacturer to be based on the all-new MSP platform. And for this, it is manufactured in a very recent factory, which uses (at least in part) low-carbon energy for its power supply.
We still have to wait
Our contact at MG tells us that we should perhaps know more in the coming weeks, since the analysis should still take some time before the data is communicated to the ministry. And let’s not forget that ultimately, MG wants to set up a factory in Europe, in particular to produce the MG4.
Let us also remember that the assembly of the car is not the only step taken into account by the future ecological bonus. The origin of the steel and aluminum used, the chemistry of the battery used and its place of assembly, the place of production of the cars and finally the transport of the latter.
A real headache in the end. The good news is that the amount of the bonus should be increased for certain households.
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