ILS VEULENT IMPOSER UN MALUS ANNUEL À TOUS LES AUTOMOBILISTES ( MÊME EN VOITURE ÉLECTRIQUE ) ! — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Welcome to this new automotive news
2. 0:02video for Friday, September 25, 2026.
3. 0:06Today, we’re going to talk about the
4. 0:08arrival in France of a new annual car
5. 0:10penalty, Volkswagen launching a massive
6. 0:11safety recall for over 2 million
7. 0:13vehicles, and Renault continuing to
8. 0:15invest hundreds of millions of euros to
9. 0:17produce their cars outside of France. I
10. 0:19hope today's topics will be of interest
11. 0:21to you. If so, I’m counting on you as
12. 0:23usual to show it by supporting my
13. 0:24channel for free. You can like this
14. 0:27video, subscribe for the next ones,
15. 0:29boost this one if the option appears
16. 0:31for you, and of course, leave a short
17. 0:33comment with your thoughts on today’s
18. 0:35news. We’ll start with a major topic,
19. 0:39as we’re going to talk about the
20. 0:40arrival of an annual car penalty in
21. 0:42France. A new tax to be paid every year
22. 0:44that would even apply to electric
23. 0:46vehicles. The situation is very simple
24. 0:48to understand. With the transition to
25. 0:50electric vehicles, the French state
26. 0:52risks gradually losing a huge portion
27. 0:53of the revenue it currently generates
28. 0:55from the automotive sector. Between the
29. 0:57fact that more electric cars inevitably
30. 0:59mean fewer internal combustion engine
31. 1:01cars running on gasoline, and the fact
32. 1:02that for purchasing power reasons, the
33. 1:04French are tightening their belts,
34. 1:06driving less than before, and therefore
35. 1:07buying less fuel. The state and the
36. 1:09French government know very well that
37. 1:11tax revenues related to fuel taxes will
38. 1:14decrease in the coming years. And that
39. 1:16is a big problem because automotive
40. 1:18taxation really represents a huge
41. 1:19financial windfall for the state. For
42. 1:21example, in 2025, total
43. 1:23automotive-related taxation is
44. 1:24estimated to have brought in about 67.5
45. 1:27billion euros for the state. And of
46. 1:29that sum, about 27 billion euros—
47. 1:31roughly half—was due to the former
48. 1:34TICPE, which is the main fuel tax. To
49. 1:36that, we must add VAT. So, to put it
50. 1:39simply, fuel taxation represents a
51. 1:40little over half of the total
52. 1:42automotive taxation. The problem is
53. 1:44that this massive source of income is
54. 1:46already starting to shrink. For example
55. 1:48, in 2019, automotive taxation
56. 1:50represented about 5.6%of total public
57. 1:53revenue, while in 2025, it was only 4.6
58. 1:55%. And according to projections from
59. 1:58the Mobility in Transition Institute,
60. 2:00with more electric cars in the coming
61. 2:02years, this proportion could drop to
62. 2:04just 3.6%by 2035. In other words, if
63. 2:07the state wanted to maintain the same
64. 2:09relative level of revenue in 2035 as in
65. 2:112025, it would be missing about 22
66. 2:13billion euros in taxes per year. And be
67. 2:15careful here, we are talking about a
68. 2:17situation that would be exactly the
69. 2:18same in 2035 as it is in 2026. As we
70. 2:21know very well, with the monstrous debt
71. 2:23we're carrying, the government will
72. 2:24likely be looking for even more money
73. 2:26in the coming years through various
74. 2:27taxes. So, the institute presents us
75. 2:30with a scenario that we could call
76. 2:31rather optimistic compared to the
77. 2:32potential reality of things, in an
78. 2:33attempt to fill this fiscal hole.
79. 2:36Rather than following the lead of
80. 2:38England, Switzerland, or Iceland, which
81. 2:40already tax or plan to tax electric
82. 2:41cars with a new annual mileage tax, the
83. 2:43Institute for Transport and Mobility
84. 2:45considers such a tax counterproductive
85. 2:47and unlikely to encourage the French to
86. 2:49switch en masse to electric cars,
87. 2:51proposing instead that the French
88. 2:53government implement a new annual
89. 2:55penalty system that would apply to all
90. 2:57French citizens who own a car. It would
91. 2:59be a bit like a road tax sticker system
92. 3:01, except that with the old sticker
93. 3:03systems, we all paid the same amount.
94. 3:05In this case, the amount would depend
95. 3:07on the type of car you have, its engine
96. 3:09type—whether it's a hybrid, electric,
97. 3:11or gas—its fuel consumption, its
98. 3:12place of manufacture, or even its
99. 3:14repairability. Now, this sounds like a
100. 3:18bit of an administrative nightmare,
101. 3:19since on top of that, there is talk of
102. 3:21weighting this annual penalty according
103. 3:23to the car owner's tax situation, based
104. 3:25on their income, place of residence,
105. 3:26and even the number of cars the
106. 3:28household owns, with the idea of making
107. 3:29certain motorists pay more if they are
108. 3:31deemed less dependent on their cars or
109. 3:33if they own heavier, more polluting
110. 3:35vehicles. The institute even gave us a
111. 3:38few examples, and beware, hold onto
112. 3:39your seats. According to the
113. 3:41simulations carried out by the
114. 3:43Institute, a very modest household
115. 3:44owning only one small electric car made
116. 3:46in Europe with a European battery. I
117. 3:48might as well tell you that doesn't
118. 3:49really exist for the moment, since
119. 3:51we're still looking for that electric
120. 3:52car made in Europe with a European
121. 3:54battery, especially when it's the only
122. 3:55car in the household. Because in
123. 3:57general, when you have an electric car
124. 3:58in the household, you keep a diesel or
125. 3:59a gas car on the side to take long
126. 4:01trips at least once or twice a year.
127. 4:02But anyway, let's imagine the model
128. 4:04family with one electric car. For the
129. 4:06entire household, it would be a tax of
130. 4:07about € 30 per year with an old
131. 4:09internal combustion vehicle of average
132. 4:10weight. This same type of household
133. 4:12could pay about € 70 per year. But at
134. 4:14the other extreme, a household
135. 4:15belonging to the wealthiest 20%living
136. 4:17in the city center, owning several cars
137. 4:20and using a very heavy old internal
138. 4:22combustion vehicle. I might as well
139. 4:23tell you that doesn't exist either.
140. 4:25Anyway, it’s very rare to see people
141. 4:27who live in the city center owning
142. 4:28several cars, given how extremely
143. 4:30expensive parking spaces already are.
144. 4:32In such cases, the annual penalty could
145. 4:34go up to € 1,000 per year. Of course,
146. 4:38there are plenty of holes in the
147. 4:39request, and plenty of things wrong
148. 4:40with the very design of this penalty,
149. 4:42since for now, the annual mileage
150. 4:43wouldn't be taken into account. So,
151. 4:46whether you drive 1 km a year with your
152. 4:47combustion engine or 50,000, it would
153. 4:49apparently be the same amount. And
154. 4:51above all, adding yet another tax for
155. 4:53motorists who already pay an average of
156. 4:55€ 940 in road taxes per year, per car
157. 4:57, might just be the straw that breaks
158. 5:00the camel's back. The institute claims
159. 5:03that the goal of this new levy would
160. 5:05not be to increase automotive taxation,
161. 5:07but rather to gradually make up for
162. 5:08lost fuel revenue. Now, of course, in
163. 5:11the comments, some will say it's not
164. 5:13particularly shocking because this
165. 5:14system already exists abroad. For
166. 5:16example, in Italy, they actually have
167. 5:18an annual tax based in particular on
168. 5:20income and the power of the cars.
169. 5:22Technically, the wealthier you are and
170. 5:24the more powerful your cars, the more
171. 5:25tax you pay. Except we shouldn't forget
172. 5:28that in countries where there are
173. 5:29annual car taxes, they don't have the
174. 5:30same penalty we have at purchase in
175. 5:31France. The penalty that can reach up
176. 5:34to € 80,000 is almost a French
177. 5:35exception. So, stacking an € 80,000
178. 5:37one-time penalty plus this new
179. 5:39potential € 1,000-per-year penalty is
180. 5:41starting to be quite a lot. By the way,
181. 5:43let me know what you think in the
182. 5:45comments: wouldn't the best idea
183. 5:47ultimately be to scrap this big
184. 5:48purchase penalty and replace it with a
185. 5:50sticker system that everyone would pay
186. 5:52based on their car, but also on the
187. 5:54kilometers driven each year for
188. 5:55non-professional trips? That might give
189. 5:58us something a bit fairer. So, for the
190. 6:00moment, rest assured, this is just a
191. 6:01proposal from the Transport and
192. 6:02Mobility Institute to the French
193. 6:04government. On the other hand, don't
194. 6:06get too comfortable either, because we
195. 6:07know very well that with
196. 6:08electrification, new taxes will arrive,
197. 6:10whether they target electric cars or
198. 6:12the rest of the auto industry. We are
199. 6:14clearly not in a period where we can
200. 6:15expect to have fewer taxes than before.
201. 6:17Still, to pay a mileage tax, you first
202. 6:19need to find drivers who are actually
203. 6:21using their cars. And for that, you
204. 6:22can't count on Volkswagen, which is
205. 6:24currently organizing one of the biggest
206. 6:26recalls in its history. More than 2
207. 6:28million cars are affected. And yes,
208. 6:30Volkswagen is recalling 2.1 million
209. 6:33cars worldwide. There are four widely
210. 6:35sold models from the brand that are
211. 6:37specifically affected. The Touran, the
212. 6:40Caddy—which we don't see much in
213. 6:41Europe, but is more common in the U.S.
214. 6:43—but also, and we definitely have
215. 6:44these in Europe, the Golf and the
216. 6:45Tiguan. The recall concerns cars
217. 6:48produced over a massive period of 10
218. 6:50years, between 2013 and 2024. A recall
219. 6:53that the brand is forced to carry out
220. 6:55because it is a safety recall
221. 6:56concerning the vehicle's steering. A
222. 6:59weakness has been detected in the
223. 7:00affected vehicles at the steering gear
224. 7:02mounting point. Over time, moisture can
225. 7:05seep in and cause corrosion on one of
226. 7:06the mounting bolts. And in the
227. 7:09worst-case scenario, this bolt can rust
228. 7:11so much that it could simply snap. At
229. 7:13that point, the vehicle's steering
230. 7:15mechanism may no longer be connected to
231. 7:17the rest of the subframe by a single
232. 7:19mounting point. And because of this,
233. 7:20over time, the vehicle could become
234. 7:22increasingly difficult to steer, or
235. 7:24even stop steering altogether. And this
236. 7:26could happen suddenly while the vehicle
237. 7:27is being driven. As you've gathered,
238. 7:28that is quite dangerous. For now, we're
239. 7:30talking about 2.1 million cars, but
240. 7:32this number will likely grow in the
241. 7:34coming months since in some countries,
242. 7:36like France, where these vehicles were
243. 7:38widely sold, Volkswagen has not yet
244. 7:40received general instructions. For
245. 7:42France alone, this should add a few
246. 7:43tens of thousands, or even hundreds of
247. 7:45thousands of recalled cars. The good
248. 7:46news is that the fix itself is
249. 7:48relatively simple. Volkswagen just
250. 7:50needs to replace the bolt in question
251. 7:52with a new one designed to resist
252. 7:53corrosion. It's an inexpensive part,
253. 7:56for sure, but when you have to do it on
254. 7:582 million cars, adding in labor costs,
255. 8:00it’s an operation that will likely
256. 8:01cost Volkswagen several hundred million
257. 8:03euros. And that comes at a bad time for
258. 8:06the group, which is already going
259. 8:07through a rather complex financial
260. 8:08period. While Volkswagen is paying
261. 8:10hundreds of millions of euros to have
262. 8:12its cars repaired, Renault is paying
263. 8:13hundreds of millions of euros to
264. 8:14produce its cars outside of France. It
265. 8:17is now officially confirmed. Renault
266. 8:19will invest 600 million euros in its
267. 8:21Spanish plants by 2030, notably in the
268. 8:24Palencia factory. It's not simply to
269. 8:26modernize a few production lines; it's
270. 8:28quite simply because Renault plans to
271. 8:30manufacture five new models there,
272. 8:31including two electric cars. Normally,
273. 8:33this includes the future Scenic, which
274. 8:35until now was produced in France. So
275. 8:37that means even more offshoring. That's
276. 8:39not the only model mentioned. Normally,
277. 8:41the upcoming Rafale should also be
278. 8:43produced there, and perhaps even the
279. 8:44future Megane. Even if for now, there
280. 8:46are some doubts about it, considering
281. 8:47the Megane had already been produced in
282. 8:49Spain for 30 years. One wonders why
283. 8:50Renault would decide to backtrack. So
284. 8:53600 million euros invested in Spain and
285. 8:55not in France for very simple reasons:
286. 8:58labor costs in Spain are much lower. In
287. 9:00concrete terms, this allows Renault to
288. 9:02make cars that are much cheaper to
289. 9:04produce. Energy costs are also lower,
290. 9:07and above all, this project has been
291. 9:09massively funded by Spanish subsidies,
292. 9:11both national and regional, since Spain
293. 9:14sends checks to all brands that agree
294. 9:16to come and set up their factories in
295. 9:18Spain: even Chinese brands, even CATL,
296. 9:20BYD, whoever you want. On one hand, it
297. 9:24is an advantage for Spain, which is
298. 9:26already the second-largest car producer
299. 9:27in Europe behind Germany. And on the
300. 9:30other hand, it's a huge benefit for
301. 9:31Renault since it could produce its cars
302. 9:33there for less. It will be able to sell
303. 9:34them without any taxes in France, since
304. 9:36there are no taxes in Europe on
305. 9:37European cars. And on top of that,
306. 9:39Spain is a big market for Renault; it's
307. 9:41its third-largest market. So it's a
308. 9:43strategic investment, and above all,
309. 9:44it's a long-term investment. So this is
310. 9:47not just a one-off cost, but really a
311. 9:49desire on Renault's part to produce
312. 9:50these cars somewhere other than France.
313. 9:53There we go, we've covered today's
314. 9:54stories. I hope you found the video
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