French-style CO2 tax would decimate dual-cab 4x4 ute sales

Australians would see their love affair with dual-cab 4x4 utes smashed if the federal government applied France’s new CO2 emissions tariffs, with some of them more than trebling in price.

France’s new sliding-scale CO2 tariff arrangement will push the price of some new vehicles up by more than 50 per cent as French president Emmanuel Macron tries to meet his country’s pledge to become the first major nation to abandon fossil fuels altogether.

The new tax will slug new vehicles that emit more than 193 grams of CO2 per kilometre with an automatic €60,000 ($A98,827) surcharge, while only cars with CO2 emissions of less than 117g/km will be exempt from the new tariffs.

That means a current BMW M3, priced at €110,000 in France, would jump to €170,000 because its Worldwide Light Harmonized Test Protocol (WLTP) emissions figure is around 220g/km.

If the same fee was applied in Australia, it would catch more than just luxury sports sedans in its net.

The popular mid-range Ford Ranger XLS Double Cab Bi-Turbo diesel 4x4 ute emits 201g/km (202g/km WLTP), which would mean its price in Australia would nearly triple from $54,730 to an astonishing $153,557.

The same would apply to just about every new ladder-frame, combustion-powered pick-up or SUV available in the country, except perhaps the new Ranger PHEV due in 2025.

Even a humble Toyota Corolla Ascent Sport, which emits 139g/km, would have $1479 added to its $29,610 recommended retail price if the French rules were applied here.

At the other end of the scale, the Ford Ranger Raptor would jump in price from $86,790 to a mammoth $185,617 plus on-road costs.

In France itself, the tariffs will apply to every model in the list of top 10 new cars sold last year, all of which were made in France or French-owned plants.

Part of a national emissions roadmap announced by French prime minister Elisabeth Borne, the tariffs are aimed at reducing emissions from the transport industry, in line with the EU’s 2030 emissions target of a 50 per cent reduction over 1990 figures and an effective ban on new combustion vehicles by 2035.

France’s emissions levels are already 25 per cent lower than in 1990 and the country’s energy is consistently the greenest in Europe, averaging just 43 grams of CO2 per kWh of electricity consumption over the past 12 months, according to opendata.reseaux-energies.fr.

Almost 95 per cent of French electricity is generated by low-carbon production and 27 per cent has come from renewable energy in the last 12 months.

In the same period, Germany needed to emit 370 grams of CO2 for each kWh of energy it produced, south central Italy needed 349g/kWh, northern Italy 276g/kWh, the UK 208g/kWh and Poland a whopping 733g/kWh.

The French government’s idea is to push French motorists to leverage the country’s clean electricity grid via electric cars, which French auto-makers Peugeot, Citroen and Renault all offer.

There is an EV version of the best-selling Peugeot 208 (the E-208 due on sale in Australia next year), but the best-selling exclusively electric car in France last year was the Dacia Spring, while the Tesla Model 3 ranked 23rd overall and the ageing Renault Zoe fell to 33rd in sales last year.

French drivers bought 889,776 new vehicles in the first half of this year, according to the CCFA (which collates French auto sales), and 137,919 of them were EVs – an increase of 47.8 per cent over the same period in 2022.

France’s CO2/power generation figure of 47g/kWh is relatively tiny compared to other countries including Australia, with only Tasmania coming close to the figure. The island state needed 95 grams per kWh over the last 30 days, according to OpenNEM, with South Australia the next best on 125g/kWh.

But the greatest concentration of Australian cars is also where the dirtiest energy comes from, with Queensland averaging 554g/kWh over the last 30 days – more than Victoria (490g/kWh) and NSW (481g/kWh) – and Queenslanders producing 55.4kg of CO2 emissions to fully charge an EV with a 100kWh battery.

That roughly equates to between 120 and 130g/km of CO2 emissions for an EV in Queensland, making it comparable to a combustion-powered small car.

By comparison, the US greenhouse reduction target is 50-52 per cent by 2030 (compared to 2005 levels), as industrialised nations struggle to meet the UN climate science panel’s demands for a 43 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions this decade.

While India and China have long-term carbon-neutral plans (for 2060 and 2070 respectively), they have not announced any 2030 targets.

The Australian government will announce its first federal fuel-efficiency standard (FES) by the end of this year ahead of the introduction of legislation to parliament next year and possible implementation by 2026.

Here’s what Australia’s 20 most popular new vehicles in the first half of 2023 would cost with a French-style CO2 tax.

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