German Dealership Offering Free Renault Zoe EV
We’ve been talking a lot lately about the recent German tax breaks around electric vehicles. The Covid recovery plan gives around 10k to anyone looking to buy an EV in the country.
Taking it to a whole new level, Autohaus-Koenig, a large German car dealership, has started offering a free Renault Zoe EV to prospective customers. Utilizing some interesting language around the tax rebates, they have found a way to offer commercial customers a Zoe which completely pays for itself in incentives.
They’ve since had their phones ringing off the hook, and even had to say that the Zoe offer was “sold-out” on their website. Really, they just can’t handle the volume of inquiries they are receiving after advertising this free EV.
The calculation is mainly based on the special feature that the subsidy is paid out tax neutral. For companies and tradesmen, this tax is a transitory item when the car is used for commercial purposes. In addition, Renault’s leasing conditions for companies are slightly better. If one part of the subsidy is used as a downpayment to keep the leasing rates low, the other part of the subsidy is sufficient to compensate for the complete installments in time.
The head of the EV department for the dealership, Wolfgang Huber, gave some inside details about how this works. I’m no expert in U.S. taxes, let alone German taxes, but it seems like tradespeople can write off the Zoe’s lease, and then the incentive pays for the two years worth of monthly payments.
You pay €3,100 up front, then another €3,000 in payments over the next two years. That totals €6,100 which comes back to you in the form of the tax rebate a couple of months after sending in paperwork.
With the upcoming van version of the Zoe, which will be even more appealing to businesses and tradespeople, Renault will see huge boosts from these kinds of deals. Additionally VW has a lot of German EV projects cooking, that will come into a country where everyone wants an EV all of a sudden.
It’s a good thing they’re getting so many new chargers.