France
French-made vehicles after the Second World War in particular have had very small engines relative to vehicle size. The very small Citroën 2CV for example has a 425 cc two-cylinder engine that weighs only 100 pounds (45 kg), and at the opposite extreme, the high-end Citroën SM has a still modest 2,700 cc six-cylinder engine that weighs only 300 pounds (140 kg).
In France, fiscal horsepower survives. However, in 1956 it was redefined: the formula became more complicated but now it took account of cylinder stroke and of cylinder bore, so that there was no longer any fiscal advantage in producing engines with thin cylinders. The dirigiste approach of the French government nevertheless continued to encourage manufacturers to build cars with small engines, and French motorists to buy them. The 1958 French fiscal horsepower formula also took account of engine speed, measured in rpm. The government modified the fiscal horsepower formula again in 1978 and in 1998. Since 1998 the taxable horsepower is calculated from the sum of a CO2 emission figure (over 45), and the maximum power output of the engine in kilowatts (over 40) to the power of 1.6.
Read more about this topic: Tax Horsepower
Famous quotes containing the word france:
“It is not what France gave you but what it did not take from you that was important.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“In France one must adapt oneself to the fragrance of a urinal.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“The best of America drifts to Paris. The American in Paris is the best American. It is more fun for an intelligent person to live in an intelligent country. France has the only two things toward which we drift as we grow older—intelligence and good manners.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)