I don’t know what that is.
They didn’t and it was not built for fuel economy, it was built to get around the emissions regs. Simple as that. 50 mpg, that would require someone to drive very slowly for a bit before the engine starts, the whole system is less efficient the farther you go. As my purchase was for comfortable travel to France it fell short. Best fuel economy on my bus, all 2.1tones is 42mpg which is at 58 mph average. The owners on the forum with hybrid versions 39mpg. But they have maintenance issues with the battery packs after a few years. The better vehicle is the Mitsubishi outlander although a friend did buy a new RAV4 and said the later version is much more like the later Prius and gives about 55mpg.
Plug in hybrid electric vehicle.
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It means you can plug it into a charger (or a home plug) but you don’t have to. All hybrids, plug in or not, recover energy but some PHEVs today are claiming (unrealistic as all claims are) 100km electric range. That’s not feasible for a self charger.
I’m not familiar with the Renault Austral, but I googled a bit and it seems to fall into the Prius category. They don’t seem to even claim an electric only range. It sounds a good package, but recovery (fuel efficiency) is the name of the game, not electric range.
" The
Renault Austral doesn’t have a pure “electric range” as it’s a full hybrid (E-Tech) , but it offers an impressive total driving range of up to 683 miles on a single tank and can handle up to 80% of city driving in full electric mode without plugging in, thanks to its self-charging battery. Its efficient powertrain achieves around 60 mpg , significantly reducing fuel consumption in urban settings where it utilizes electric power for short distances and quiet cruising.
Haven’t all these stats for hybrids been totally debunked? Not that they don’t do what they say but the numbers are way off
Yes, our C350e (and the BMW 330e) were too. The UK emissions based BIK created a glut of end of lease perq MB C350s and BMW 330Es in 2019. I stumbled across it when looking on UK sites for a RHD runabout for Dublin. I got a very low milage two year old C350e for less than half it would have cost new. Cheaper than a decent secondhand Golf 
However I think the original Prius had greater integrity. Though if pandering to an identified Californian tree hugger market segment can be called integrity I’m not sure 
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The numbers an all EVs are way off, you just have to factor that in. The MPG numbers are way off too And as for emissions, well just ask VW, they can be whatever you want them to be 
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I’d suggest, if that’s a US gallon, then it’s pretty good.
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Yes, I think that’s right.
The free electricity price comparator of Que Choisir has begun to recommend packages that are likely to expand the hours when an EV can be charged at cheap rates in France. Starting with Octopus that has a 50% cost deal for charging EV’s offpeak
The calculator is on Ufcqc.link/nrj654
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I am getting to appreciate France more and more.
Lol… Even after cutting EV incentives, Norway only sold 98 diesel cars in January
In January 2026, only 98 diesel cars were sold across all of Norway, alongside 29 hybrids and 7 petrol-only cars.
…
Meanwhile, 2,084 EVs were sold in January
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I’m shocked. Germany has brought back their EV aubsidy for private buyers. Keep reading there is a French connection tbat will shock you*
Subsidy per EV is up to 6000 EUR for a family 45000 or leas income with 2 kids. 5000 EUR without kids. 3000 EUR min for up to 80000 EUR household income at the lowest. Plug in hybrids also get less, but not that much less.
No restriction on vehicle, just has to be a car built anywhere No list of allowed vehicles, so China, Korea, Japan made vehicles qualify. Lease or purchase.
The kicker - and here I’m getting to the French connection - is that a number of car manufacturers are adding additional discounts. Some are doubling the bonus So up to 12,000 EUR off the cost of the EV.
Renault is therefore offering a new Dacia Spring at 5900 euros net cost in Germany. Citroën is offering a new e-C3 at full price of 7990 euros net (same price as the Citroën Ami which is beyond ridiculous). These prices would apply to families qualifying for the full 6000 bonus (making 12000 euros subsidy between state and manufactuer).
Even at 5000 euros bonus thst’s still a new Dacia EV for 7900 net, and a new Citroën e-C3 for 9990 Euros net. Pick the right EV and even if you only qualify for the basic 3000 EUR subsidy cos you earn up to 80000 you’ll get 6000 EUR off these and some other manufacturers’ model like Ford.
If Renault and Citroën ste willing to discount that much in Germany then things must be serious indeed for the car industry .
Source: Auto magazine (Getmany) 5th February
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Sounds like a country that wants EV ownership, the UK could learn a lot, they only give the subsidy for vehicles under about £40,000 which isn’t many of the nice ones with reasonable range. Simply nothing offered to cars above that value. Pathetic!
I’ll openly admit to being a hypocrite, in that I’ll take any subsidies offered, but I’m entirely comfortable that we don’t need to subsidise the relatively wealthy that are going to slap down more than £40k on a car. I suspect most cars in that range are going to be company cars anyway, which is already tax advantageous for EVs.
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I don’t think it’s hypocritical at all, the daft way the UK is implementing it is where the issue is. They double some of the road tax on affordable ICE cars that many exist on especially older gens doing minimum mileage. Buying an EV even at lower value and then adding an option or two kicks it out of the subsidy realm. Do they really want to encourage or just for those where it’s not a problem financially.
France’s limit has been 45000 euros so much of a muchness. There was a hint by the author of the German article that they think it might become restricted to European made cars at some point.
I think the upper limit on income is better because if a single person wants to spend more of their income to buy something nicer then that’s fine. Also they would probably have to increase the amount anyway if they stomp on imports from China, Korea etc because EU is simply more expensive. They either want people to go electric or they don’t.
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In France one’s taxed as a family unit, so tax thresholds etc. function very differently to the UK.
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Did not know that, any idea as to how is calculated?