27.09.2021.
Today the director of the Fund, Siniša Kukić, took part in the plenary session of the Motor Vehicle Trade Association, organised by the Croatian Chamber of Economy. “Car dealers are an important link in our new co-financing model of energy efficient vehicles,” he said, expressing satisfaction with this year’s highly successful cooperation of the Fund, the Croatian Chamber of Economy, and dealerships.“We are glad that the incentives granted by the Fund for co-financing around 2000 new, energy efficient vehicles allowed the citizens and companies from the private and the public sector to decide on an alternative to conventional cars. However, the transition of the transport system into an energy more efficient one has to be accelerated, since by 2050 electric vehicles should account for 35% of the fleet in our country,” said Kukić.
This is something that dealerships are aware of, and in today’s meeting they had the opportunity to get an overview of the activities in the past 4 years. Josip Zaher, the vice-president of the Croatian Chamber of Economy, said that a very turbulent period was behind us, marked by many unprecedented events and fluctuations. “In 2019, almost 63000 new and 82000 used cars were sold. However, in 2020 there was a steep decline and only 36000 new and 58000 used cars were sold. This year we’re seeing a significant upturn, so that by now almost 34600 new and 43000 used vehicles have been sold and we are confident this trend will continue until the end of the year, if the situation with the global supply chains recovers.“ He pointed out that the Croatian Chamber of Economy had always been and was at the disposal of its members with the aim of providing the conditions for their uninterrupted and competitive market presence. “In this context, and through the available mechanisms, CCE and our associations and groups participated in drafting a number of new legislative solutions,” said Zaher, thanking the representatives of the ministries of public administration and finance, the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund and others, on their decision-making that resulted in certain positive developments.
The results of this cooperation were presented to the participants by Maja Rajčić, the head of the Energy Efficiency Sector at the Fund. “In July we had the public call for the citizens and companies that could apply for co-financing at 260 points of sale across the country. The allocated budget was depleted in a little less than 8 hours. After the applications were evaluated, 1350 contracts were concluded totalling HRK 82.5 million for 1744 vehicles. Almost 50 million kunas were granted to the citizens, and around 33 million to 428 companies,” said Rajčić. She also explained some of the most common mistakes made in the application process and welcomed further cooperation with the representatives of the Association and car dealerships.
