More than 200 car dealers will take part in the Auto Festival taking place from 30th January to 8th February in Luxembourg.

A question many people are asking for 2010 is,  will we be getting  the same old car scrapping system “car-e”, whereby you received a premium if you scrap your 10 year old car and purchase a new ecological car? The answer to that is yes and no!  Yes until July 2010 then the offer stops meaning that the premium will still be around for the Auto Festival.  The system cetainly proved its worth in 2009 as more than one in four cars purchased in 2009 emits less than 120g / km CO2.

President of the Federation of Luxembourg Garages (FEGARLUX), Eugene Pirsch announced  "cautious optimism" last night at the presentation for the 2010 edition of the Auto Festival.

There is a decline in new car registrations but this has remained within acceptable limits. It is mainly the result of company cars. Pirsch's caution, lies in the belief that 2010 will be a transition year during which the continued grant of green bonuses, (nearly 6,000 were issued in 2009) , and scrap premiums (760 requests in 2009), should support and help sales.

An interesting figure released for Luxembourg is that for every 1000 inhabitants, 672 cars are counted.  Also, the financial incentives for cars emitting less than 120g/km CO2 for 2009, has helped improve the “green car” market share from 7 to 9.4%.  That's twice the amount of 2006!

Car manufacturers are of course constructing cars that consume less.  Interesting to note is that the sale of diesel cars is dropping.  In Luxembourg 2008 was the first year that the sale of diesel cars dropped since 1996 and last year this figure dropped still further.

However, diesel cars still claim 73.2% of the Luxembourg market, meaning that their popularity remains high, mostly due to the price of diesel at the pump.