Study analyzes effectiveness of car fleet renewal programs

The International Transport Forum has released a study which looks at the success of car fleet renewal programs. The study finds that car fleet renewal programs have fallen short of their potential on emissions and safety benefits, in particular in the United States, France and Germany. The report looked at 2.8 million transactions in which consumers bought new cars and examined the value for money of different incentive programs and the impact on environmental issues, such as CO2 emissions. While some of the targeted incentive programs brought about good results in terms of fuel economy, the programs were not well aligned with fuel consumption or pollutant emissions. Jack Short, secretary general for the International Transport Forum said, “Subsidies for car renewal can bring real benefits only if they are carefully designed. Here a best practices approach is key. We hope that comparative studies like this one will help countries pondering similar schemes to find the right solutions for them.” (July 11, 2011)