France plans to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars in the country by 2040, according to the country’s new environment minister, Nicolas Hulot.
Announcing his climate plan at a press conference on Thursday, he said: “We are announcing the end of the sale of gasoline and diesel cars by 2040.”
Mr Hulot did not specify if this would mean a ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars, or how a ban could be implemented. He also did not specify if this ban would include hybrid cars.
But the minister said the target would impose a “heavy” burden on local carmakers. French automakers Renault and PSA, the maker of Peugeot and Citroen cars, are both partially owned by the state.
The announcement comes as carmakers are already moving to rapidly increase their output in electric and hybrid cars to respond to growing demand and regulatory pressure.
Volvo said this week said that from 2019 it will no longer launch new car models powered only by internal combustion engines.
Global sales of electric cars were less than 1 per cent of the market last year. But according to IDTechEX, a market researcher, pure-electric car sales will increase from 672,000 this year to almost 7m in 2027.
