MikeJ

One of the biggest gripes I've had with my native Finland has been the car tax. Originally introduced as a temporary measure in 1958, it has been revised several times but despite this, it has always treated all passenger cars the same - as luxury items upon which excessive taxes can be levied. Currently, the tax is at 28%, relatively modest compared to what it used to be. All this has resulted in Finns driving around in some of the oldest cars in Europe.

However, on Thursday, our dear government announced that starting Jan 1 2008, a new tax system which is based on the CO2 emissions of the vehicle will be introduced, resulting in a tax rate which varies between approximately 10 and 40 % (of course, there'll be 22% VAT on top of that...)

Official new prices for cars haven't yet been announced, but there are speculative lists around, and it is clear that while the prices of most cars (especially diesels) will go down rather considerably, those planning to get a large SUV or a sports car better act quickly. Here are a few choice examples:

old price / new price / difference (€)

Audi A4 (2008) 3.0 TDI Quattro 58 900 / 54 089 / -4 811
Audi A6 2.0T 48 400 / 45 394 / -3 006
Audi A8 6.0 W12 Quattro 177 800 / 227 457 / +49 657
Audi R8 Quattro 161 900 / 204 369 / +42 469
BMW 116i 29 850 / 26 250 / -3 600
BMW 535dA 79 850 / 72 916 / -6 934
BMW M5 Touring 141 700 / 183 741 / +42 041
Lexus LS600H 158 700 / 153 975 / -4 725
Mercedes-Benz E220 CDI 62 100 / 55 503 / -6 597
Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 704 000 / 881 624 / +177 624
Porsche Boxster 2.7 71 900 / 71 700 / -200
Porsche Cayenne Turbo 177 600 / 228 818 / +51 218
Smart Fortwo Coupe Passion 16 900 / 14 734 / -2 166
Volkswagen Golf 1.6 Trendline 21 650 / 20 644 / -1 006
Volkswagen Golf 1.9 TDI Trendline 26 540 / 23 173 / -3 367
Volkswagen Passat 2.0 35 240 / 33 824 / -1 416
Volkswagen Passat 2.0 TDI 39 710 / 35 380 / -4 330

Up here, most people are happy because the prices of ordinary cars that people actually buy will go down, but then there are those who say that an SLR which will only be driven on beautiful summer days (which, let's face it, we don't have that many of) whereas many other cars will be used daily. Any comments on this?

ree

Wow, you have to buy a 535d then!!! About 7.000 € less - that's a lot!

MikeJ

It is.
As for that G500 in your avatar, the news is not good: 142 000 / 184 127 / +42 127.

donau

I've been looking at those new prices in Iltasanomat (an afternoon/evening newspaper in Finland for those other than my compatriots) and yes, it looks good for everyone who is looking for a people mover but for all of the rest of us it actually looks pretty terrible. An example is MikeJ's post above. Lots of examples of those too: the AMG cars, the M cars, Porsches etc.