As Germany, the birthplace of Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, the three famous automobile brands, in recent years, they have invested different degrees in energy-saving and new energy vehicles. However, the above-mentioned German car companies have not shown significant development momentum, and they have always used various stimulus policies. For China, which encourages the development of new energy vehicles, Germany’s penetration rate in new energy vehicles is very low. Recently, the German government finally came up with a similar Chinese car subsidy policy to encourage consumers to buy new energy vehicles.

At the end of last month, German Finance Minister Schaeuble announced in Berlin, the capital, that it would implement a subsidy policy for the purchase of new energy vehicles. In an agreement with the German automotive industry, the German government showed that both parties shared a total of 1.2 billion euros in subsidies. The subsidy amount for each electric vehicle is 4,000 Euros and that for hybrid cars is 3,000 Euros. From 2018 onwards, the subsidy will be reduced to 3,000 Euros per pure electric vehicle and 2,000 Euros for hybrid cars, after which only electric cars will be subsidized. The premise is that the price of the car cannot exceed 60,000 euros, otherwise it will not be included in the subsidy.

â–  Low market retention is the main reason

Leng Yong is the general manager of a Chinese company engaged in Sino-German trade. He believes: “The purpose of Germany's introduction of this subsidy policy is obviously to further boost the clean energy industry. In recent years, the sales of new energy vehicles in Germany have been very high. In general, despite the fact that several of these models are selling well, they are far from reaching the level of "compelling courtesy of the internal combustion engine cars."

In fact, as in China, Germany has long established the development goals for new energy vehicles (mainly electric vehicles). The German government passed the "Comprehensive Energy Energy and Climate Plan" in 2007, and it has adopted electric vehicles as one of its main contents. Since then, the "National Electric Transport Development Plan" was released in August 2009 and proposed to maintain the number of electric vehicles for 1 million vehicles by 2020. However, there has been no substantive progress for several years. According to the statistics at the beginning of this year, Germany currently has only 25,500 electric vehicles and 130,000 hybrid cars. Dr. Xia Wei of the University of Bochum, Germany, told reporters: “Obviously this is compared with the number of 45 million motor vehicles, even 0.5%. The proportions are not reachable."

Different from China’s implementation of fiscal incentive policies, the German government’s support policies for electric vehicles were mainly focused on R&D. The lack of attractive support policies in the procurement process has been opposed by many environmentalists in Germany. They think that they should directly provide subsidies for consumers who buy electric vehicles to quickly support the traditional automotive industry to introduce new energy vehicles as soon as possible. At that time, Green Party leader Cuernast even said: "The government has implemented new technology research and development. Subsidies, but nothing is done to encourage the purchase of new energy vehicles."

Xia Wei explained to reporters: “In recent years, the German Chancellor has devoted a special time each year to discussing electric vehicles and has drawn up some major decisions. This year’s decision is to implement subsidy projects from May 18. Prior to this, discussions on subsidies were held. It has been going on for many years and has been opposed by too few terminal subsidies, insufficient effectiveness of current policies, and insufficient support.The current opposition party (ie, the Green Party) attaches great importance to environmental protection work. Its view is that it must support electric vehicles and oppose nuclear power. ”

â–  High transparency of direct subsidies

In contrast to the way in which China's central government finances auto manufacturers and auto manufacturers sell new energy vehicles to private users at a price after deducting subsidies, the German government uses direct subsidies to consumers to stimulate new energy vehicle consumption. Xia Wei explained: “In the 4,000 or 3,000 euros subsidy that consumers receive, half of them come from the government, while the other half comes from car manufacturers that have agreements with the government. Of course, the maximum 2000 euros does not affect the car prices. Ultimately profit."

“When consumers apply for subsidies from the government, they must show proof that they have obtained subsidies from a car sales company before they can receive government subsidies.” Although consumers need to replenish funds during the purchase of new energy vehicles, Xia Wei said: “ The Federal Government of Germany has set up an Economic Export Control Office to subsidize distribution. Government subsidies will generally be issued within four to five weeks, during which the operation process is very quick and transparent."

It can be seen that Germany has already taken the first step of direct subsidies following the key support of the R&D level. However, Germany still does not support the promotion of new energy vehicles by subsidizing enterprises. On the contrary, the German Federal Ministry of Transport believes that the one-time subsidy that is suspected of directly subsidizing automobile manufacturers will violate the principle of fair competition and cannot effectively stimulate the development of electric vehicle products. Self-competitiveness.

In terms of subsidy financing, Xia Wei also said: “This subsidy comes from the Energy Climate Fund under the Ministry of Finance. Because the German government will generally operate the budget out of the plan through the foundation, once it is needed. You can use it, so you do not need to add a budget."