French Vehicle

[Mauricette Atencio]

Francewas a pioneer in the automotive industry and is the 11th-largest automobile manufacturer in the world by 2015 unit production and the third-largest in Europe (after Germany and Spain).[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] It had consistently been the 4th-largest from the end of World War II up to 2000. It is 16% of sales of French manufactured products.

The France-based Renault Trucks is a major producer of commercial vehicles and is owned by Volvo. Both PSA and Renault produce a large number of vehicles outside France. French automotive manufacturers were long dominant in francophone Africa, but beginning in the 1970s the Japanese were making inroads due to lower prices and the availability of suitable light offroad cars and trucks.[8]

French-designed cars have won the European Car of the Year and World Car of the Year awards numerous times. The Citron DS took third place in Car of the Century award and has been named the most beautiful car of all time by Classic & Sports Car magazine.[9][10]

What is the Crit'Air sticker?The certificate is a round sticker that corresponds to a class of vehicle defined according to the emissions of atmospheric pollutants. There are 6 categories of certificates, each with a different colour, to encourage the least polluting vehicles.The Crit'Air sticker concerns all vehicles: private cars, two-wheelers, tricycles and quadricycles, light commercial vehicles and heavy vehicles including buses and coaches. Once acquired and affixed to the vehicle's windscreen, the sticker is valid for the entire life of the vehicle.

The Crit'Air certificate is only compulsory in certain zones. In Paris, the sticker is compulsory within the perimeter of the A86 motorway from Monday to Friday, from 8am to 8pm, except on public holidays.

Several large cities have also set up low emission mobility zones. The agglomerations concerned are: Lyon, Aix-Marseille, Toulouse, Nice, Montpellier, Strasbourg, Grenoble, Rouen, Reims and Saint-tienne. From 2025, all cities and agglomerations with more than 150,000 inhabitants will be required to introduce a Low Emission Mobility Zone.

Since 1 January 2023, all Crit'Air 5 vehicles or vehicles without a sticker have been subject to traffic restrictions in Low Emission Zones. In some cities, Crit'Air 4 vehicles are also affected. Several cities also offer passes to allow occasional drivers to visit the city centre a limited number of times during the year.

In Strasbourg, Crit'Air 5 and non-classified vehicles will be banned from driving within the ZFE-m perimeter. The traffic restrictions will apply from 1 January 2024 for Crit'Air 4 vehicles and from 1 January 2025 for Crit'Air 3 vehicles.

In Rouen, all vehicles displaying a Crit'Air 4, 5 or non-classified sticker have been banned from 1 September 2022. Tolerance is granted to motorised two-wheelers, tricycles and quadricycles until 31 August 2023. The ban is due to apply to Crit'Air 3 cars from 1 January 2025.In addition, additional traffic restrictions may apply during pollution peaks. Traffic restrictions will only apply in urban areas where pollutant thresholds are exceeded. The following cities, known as "vigilance territories", are therefore no longer subject to these new restrictions (Crit'Air 3).

-In Nice, Crit'Air 5 and non-classified passenger cars have been affected by the restrictions since 1 January 2023. However, Crit'Air 4 and Crit'Air 3 vehicles will be able to continue driving.

France is one of only a few countries to apply CO2-based fees and rebates simultaneously. This feebate system is one of the key tools that the French government is using to bring down carbon emissions from vehicles.

France pioneered this type of system, and the government had little empirical evidence to draw on in forecasting how it would work. They quickly discovered that they were paying out far more money in rebates than they had projected. They had accurately foreseen that as the fleet moved towards lower CO2 emissions, rebates would go up and fees would go down. But they did not anticipate a second dynamic. France used step functions to set levels of fees and rebates, and manufacturers quickly learned that they could greatly increase rebates by designing vehicles to register CO2 emissions during the type-approval tests that were just below the step function cut points. This led to a rapid increase in the rebates paid by France for relatively small CO2 emission changes.

France addressed these issues in two ways: by making annual adjustments to maintain a balance between fees collected and rebates paid, and by reducing the size of the steps to minimize gaming and improve the effectiveness of the system.

A continuous feebate rate line also means that regulators only need to periodically adjust the pivot point (i.e., the CO2 level that divides fee and rebate) and the slope of the rate to make the system self-funding and sustainable. In addition, it is easier to estimate the fleet trend and budget stream with the continuous fee rate function as it is more straightforward to predict market reaction based on elasticity of the purchase cost of vehicles.

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Famous for its lion badge, Peugeot is one of the original French car brands and a true elder of motoring, dating back to its first steam-powered effort in 1899. More conventional propulsion happily followed and Peugeot went on to provide solid, reliable and occasionally innovative transport for the French bourgeoisie and of course France's many farmers. The company's 1980s 205 GTi remains one of the greatest hot hatches, Le Mans victories reflect motor sport pedigree, current ranges meld Peugeot flair with everyday competence.

Beloved of petrol-heads and even philosophers, Citron's futuristic DS, launched in 1955, is regarded as one of the greatest ever pieces of automobile design, complete with swooping lines and revolutionary hydropneumatic suspension. The DS was simply the latest innovation of this most French of French car companies - witness the 2CV or pioneering front-drive Traction Avant - and current ranges, while less radical, usually feature a signature quirk or two. Huge success in rallying, too.

One of the greats of small-car motoring, Renault's latest offering - still in concept stage - is a svelte electric version of the renowned and much loved Renault 5 of the 1970s and 1980s. Forward-looking Renault has long been at the forefront of battery power - the current Zoe is an urban favourite - while its RenaultSport division not only boasts Le Mans and Formula One success, but an impressive record in producing RS-badged hot versions of its everyday hatchbacks.

Now part of the multinational VW Group, Bugatti produces some of the fastest and most sought-after hypercars, currently the Chiron, a special version of which achieved more than 300 mph at the hands of test driver Andy Wallace. The Veyron was the formidable debut product of the revived badge under VW control, after production of EB110 supercar faltered. Heritage includes jaw-dropping Royale, aimed at 1930s royalty, and Atalante from the same era, often named as the world's most expensive classic.

A luxury spin-off brand from parent Citroen, DS offers uprated and significantly re-engineered versions of existing Citroens. Idea is to draw on Citroen's avant garde past and this is especially reflected in lavishly appointed interiors. Ranges begin with subcompact crossover DS3 and extends to the upscale DS9, aimed squarely at providing a Gallic alternative to Mercedes and BMW. Motorsport programme in all-electric Formula E points to the future.

Recently relaunched sports car marque that's part of the Renault group. Heritage includes signature 1971 Monte Carlo Rally win for the diminutive A110, a coupe whose form and name is reflected in the company's current mid-engined sports car, also known as the A110. This little two-seater has been acclaimed by motoring journalists for its handling finesse. The Alpine name has reached worldwide TV audiences with the Alpine Formula One team, featuring the veteran Fernando Alonso.

Quixotic and proudly independent car maker that traces its roots back to the early 1900s, when the De La Chapelle brothers produced cars under the Stimula badge, revived by Xavier de la Chapelle in the 1970s, going on to produce bespoke road cars as well as highly regarded replicas of 1930s Bugattis. After focus on electric people-carriers, De La Chapelle now offers the remarkable new-from-old Atalante Series 6, based on 1930s Bugatti Atalante, and powered by a V8 engine.

Are they cars or are they quadricycles? Diminutive all-electric products of this highly individual French marque don't require a car licence, which has given these tiny vehicles an unlikely popularity, especially in French urban areas. Axiam are understandably smug about being ahead of the electric curve, and the company's tiny electric pick-ups also have a large following. Perfect transport for your artisanal boulangerie.

French marque, now Monaco-based, Venturi's attractive GTs attracted a devoted - if small - following in the 1980s. Reinvented as an all-electric brand, Venturi claims its 2004 Ftish concept, a radical open-top two seater, was the first true electric sports car. Subsequent concepts have pushed the boundaries of electric power, underlined by the company's entry in the battery-powered Formula E single-seater series - and the one-off Venturi Buckeye Bullet, which holds the world record for fastest electric vehicle, reaching 340 mph.

Founded by former Formula One racer Guy Ligier, the company initially focussed on Grand Prix single seaters, scoring nine notable victories culminating in an unlikely win in the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. Ligier's road-going vehicles today are at the other end of the motoring scale: tiny microcars powered initially by 50 cc petrol engines and now available as an all-electric range, topped by the JS50, a chequered flag on its nose celebrating Ligier's distinguished motor sport heritage.

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