400,000 cars are reported to have been scrapped so far within the framework of France's car scrapping scheme which has been in effect since the beginning of this year.
According to Patrick Devedjian, the minister in charge of implementing France's stimulus measures, although the initial expectation was to reach 220,000 units by the end of the year, 400,000 units have been scrapped up to now, while the figure is expected to reach 500,000 by the end of 2009. Since the number of cars being scrapped far exceeds the initial expectations, the fund for the related incentive cash payments will also exceed the foreseen amount and will reach €500 million.
The goal of the French car scrapping scheme is to relegate cars older than 10 years and to sell new cars with CO2 emissions lower than 160g/km.