Shanghai, May 28 (Gasgoo.com) Since China increased incentives in March to encourage replacement of high-polluting old vehicles for clean new ones, more car owners in the country have applied for the auto trade-in subsidies, the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday.
The commerce ministry said that about 106,000 vehicles have been subsidized nationwide by May 24, bringing the total subsidies for upgrading outdated vehicles to 1.4 billion yuan ($205 million). Around 12,6 billion yuan were spent on buying vehicles, Shanghai Daily reported.
On June 1, 2009, the Chinese government started its one-year "cash for clunkers" program, granting subsidies of 1 billion yuan for vehicle trade-ins, which were later raised to 5 billion yuan for this year. This subsidy policy, due to expire on May 31, is likely to be extended to the end of this year.
An owner of a vehicle which fails to meet China-I standard -- the nation's first-generation emission standard -- could be compensated up to 18,000 yuan this year, up from the previous 6,000 yuan, for buying an eco-friendly, energy-efficient new vehicle to replace an old fuel-guzzler.
Since the subsidies were raised for this year, about 90,000 vehicles were subsidized this year to date across the country, or nearly six times more than last year. The trade-in scheme has proved effective in spurring sales of low-emission vehicles.
