French buyers to get 5,000-euro bonus for green cars

(CULOZ) - France will this month unveil a new "clean cars" programme offering a 5,000-euro (7,300-dollar) bonus to buyers who pick environmentally-friendly models, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday.

The programme will enable carmakers to offer to French consumers within the next 16 months "the possibility of buying electric or hybrid vehicles at acceptable prices and to benefit from the super-bonus," he said.

Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo will on September 23 provide details of the plan that was first announced at the Paris Motor Show last October, Sarkozy said.

The president said at the show that his government would earmark 400 million euros over four years to boost the development of environmentally-friendly cars.

His statement on Thursday came as he unveiled a new carbon tax to help combat global warming, calling it a "fiscal revolution" and overriding strong public opposition to the plan.