Cleaner vehicle purchase incentives

In February 2009, as part of measures aimed at supporting industrial sectors in crisis, Italys Council of Ministers launched a temporary incentive scheme for consumers to replace their old vehicles with new ones meeting certain environmental criteria. The scheme applies to cars, light commercial vehicles, as well as motorcycles and scooters. The incentives are provided in the form of a discount obtained by consumers directly from the dealers, who in turn receive this as a tax credit. A bonus of EUR 1500 is provided when a car older than 9 years meeting Euro 0, 1 or 2 standards is exchanged for a new vehicle meeting Euro 4 or 5 standards and that emits a maximum of 130gCO2/km for diesel cars or 140gCO2/km for others. The exchanged vehicle must have been registered by March 2010. This can be combined with a purchase incentive of EUR 1500 should the new vehicle run on electricity, hydrogen or methane. This purchase incentive rises to EUR 3000 if the vehicle emits 120gCO2/km, and to EUR 3500 if it emits less than that. For liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vehicles, a purchase incentive of EUR 1500 increases to EUR 2000 if the vehicle emits less than 120gCO2/km. For lightweight commercial vehicles, a bonus of EUR 2500 is provided for scrapping a vehicle meeting Euro 0, 1 or 2 standards and registered before 31 December 1999, and purchasing a new one. In addition, EUR 4000 is provided for the purchase of a new "innovative vehicle", running on gas, LPG, hydrogen. The latter incentive can be combined with the scrapping bonus. For motorcycles, scooters and other two-wheel vehicles, a EUR 500 bonus is provided when purchasing a new 400cc Euro 3 vehicle when combined with the scrapping of a Euro 0 or 1 category vehicle. Under the scheme, incentives are also provided for converting existing cars to run on LPG (EUR 500) and methane (EUR 600).

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