Friday, February
6, 2009
Italy Offers Euro 1,500 to New Car Buyers To
Rescue Auto Industry
The Italian government approved euro
1,500 ($1,900) payments (not merely Tax Credits) to new car buyers who
trade in older, polluting models, becoming the latest nation to try to
boost the auto industry.
Italy joins Britain, France and
Germany in helping out car makers as sales tumble. Germany is paying consumers
euro 2,500 ($3,200) to junk old cars for greener models.
Italy Offers Euro 1,500 to New
Car Buyers
Associated Press
February 6, 2009
MILAN (AP) — The Italian government
on Friday approved euro1,500 ($1,900) payments to new car buyers who trade
in older, polluting models, becoming the latest nation to try to boost
the auto industry hard hit by the global economic slowdown.
Automaking is one of Italy's most
important sectors, and the Fiat Group SpA, Italy's leading automaker, also
is the country's biggest employer and industrial concern.
Italy has seen new car registrations
plummet by a third in January, compared to a year earlier. Like other European
automakers, Fiat has enacted a series of temporary layoffs to cope with
the crisis.
Industry Minister Claudio Scajola
detailed the measures after a Cabinet meeting in Rome that approved the
package.
Fiat shares were up by 5.6 percent
to euro4.5 ($5.76) in trading on the Milan Stock Exchange.
Italy joins Britain, France and Germany
in helping out car makers as sales tumble.
Germany is paying consumers euro2,500
($3,200) to junk old cars for greener models. EU leaders will talk in March
about joint efforts to speed up car sales across the 27-nation bloc.
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