Germany forces 1,050 Tesla owners to forgo electric car bonus

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany’s Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control said 1,050 owners of a Tesla Model S will be forced to forgo a 2,000 euro electric car subsidy because the value of their vehicles had surpassed an eligibility threshold.

FILE PHOTO: The Tesla logo is seen at the entrance to Tesla Motors' new showroom in Manhattan's Meatpacking District in New York City, U.S., December 14, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

The office on Wednesday said only vehicles costing 60,000 euros or less qualified for Germany’s “environmental bonus”. Because it had found that Tesla was delivering higher specification vehicles costing more than 60,000 euros, the Tesla Model S was removed from the subsidy list on November 30, 2017.

“The subsidy needs to be repaid by 800 people who had received it, and another 250 customers who had been notified they were eligible... will now not receive it,” a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Because Tesla has started delivering its base model in Germany again, customers who bought cars costing less than 60,000 euros are once again eligible to apply for the bonus, the spokeswoman said.

Reporting by Edward Taylor; Editing by Jan Harvey

(Original source)