Number of eco-friendly vehicle models balloons 9 times

New rules for these models will start 1 April.

According to a release, the Environmental Protection Department listed the private car and commercial vehicle models available in Hong Kong that will meet the enhanced qualifying standards for environment-friendly vehicles which take effect on April 1, and will be eligible for First Registration Tax concessions.

The department recently reviewed the qualifying standards for environment-friendly vehicles to be eligible for the tax concession.

Since the incentive scheme's launch, the number of eligible models has grown nine times, creating a need to tighten the qualifying standards to restrict the tax incentive to vehicles with outstanding environmental performance. This can also reduce the incentive for car ownership and contribute to a reduction in roadside air pollution.

The new qualifying standards for petrol-driven cars specify a reduction of 75% in emissions as compared with the prevailing statutory emission limits, to comply with more stringent fuel efficiency targets.

When the new standards come into place in April, only 26 out of 139 car models that are now qualified as environment-friendly vehicles will retain their eligibility for tax incentives.

For commercial vehicles, Euro V has now become the statutory emission requirement, as the qualifying standards have to be tightened.

At present, the supply of Euro VI commercial vehicles is very limited. The department has benchmarked the tightened qualifying standards against the performance of vehicle models that are available to the local market instead of Euro VI.

At present, environment-friendly petrol-driven private cars are eligible for a tax reduction of up to 45%, subject to a cap of $75,000 per car. The rates of tax reduction for different environment-friendly commercial vehicle classes range from 30% to 100%, subject to vehicle-class-specific caps per vehicle.