France offers new-car buyers a 1000 euro subsidy for scrapping a 10-year-old car, and an additional environmental bonus of 700 EUR for a car with CO2 emissions under 120 g/km. New car sales rose by 11.9 percent in May. From January to May, 896,318 new cars were registered (among which 175,000 received the scrapping incentive). This is 0.5 percent less than a year earlier but, compared to a 15 percent fall of the European market.

In Germany, the 2,500 EUR subsidy to swap cars at least nine years old for a new model, which was introduced in February, is a real success. Sales were up 39.7 percent last month compared to the same period last year. This was the third consecutive growth for the new car market.

Britain's 2,500 EUR car scrappage scheme for cars that are at least 10 years old has boosted sales by 35,000 vehicles since its introduction in April, but, overall, the market was still down 24.8 percent last month.

Italy has introduced a 1,500 EUR bonus for cars older than 10 years (scooters can also get a discount that ranges from 180 to 1,800 EUR). Analysts are unsure if it is too early to feel its impact or if the bonus is too low but sales were down again, by 8.6 percent last month.

Spain has introduced a 1,000 EUR bonus on the 1st of June for cars older than 10 years. It is too early to measure its impact.

In Austria, demand for the 1,500 government scrapping bonuses has been falling fast after an initial surge of interest when the programme went into effect on 1 April. There have been only 3,000 applications during the first two weeks of June, whereas there were 1,500 on 1 and 2 April alone. There has been a total of 17,800 applications since 1 April, with 10,000 coming before 1 May.

In less than 3 weeks, Slovaks spent more than 30 million EUR which had been allocated for scrapping bonuses of up to 2,000 EUR per car older than 10 years. The government has earmarked additional funds for the scheme.

In April, the Netherlands decided to give consumers a rebate of 750 or 1,000 EUR (depending on age and fuel type of the car) if they have their car scrapped when buying a new one. The industry expects the scrapping measures to result in 100,000 old cars and vans being exchanged for newer and cleaner vehicles but, again, its is too early to measure the impact the scheme will have on sales.

Canada also has a bonus but it is only 200 EUR and applies to vehicles older than 14 years in a country where the car parc is relatively young.

To help its market recover, in April, Japan adopted a 1,900 EUR bonus for cars older than 13 years. Again, it is too early to see the effect on the market. Sales were down 19.4 percent in May.

Other countries, such as the United States or China, are considering introducing their own scrapping plan.

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