All drivers, who send their at least 15-year-old diesel car to the scrapper and decide to buy an electric vehicle instead, are offered a hefty incentive of 10,000 euros. Apparently, the results aren't coming in as expected, so the incentive is planned to extend to 10-year-old diesel cars.

French Minister of Ecology and Energy Segolene Royal officially stated that they are indeed planning to offer the bonus to 'younger' diesels as well, and appealed for the development of a "popular electric car," priced between 5,000 and 8,000 euros.

France is gradually moving away from the strategies it implemented in the past couple of decades, when purchasing diesel cars was encouraged with tax benefits for diesel fuel. These taxes were introduced in the 1960s because of diesel's superior fuel economy. In the past few years, the government and the automotive industry changed their tune, so they are gradually retracting tax benefits on diesel. According to Royal, by approaching the matter more aggressively, the pressure on current diesel car owners would have been too great.