Vehicle Emissions Reduction

About 120,000 Trabants and Wartburgs were on Budapest's streets in the early 1990s. The two types of cars, made in the former East Germany, are notorious for spewing pollutants from their two-stroke engines into the environment. Because of their low price, they were the cars of choice in Hungary.

In 1994, businesses that owned two-stroke-engine vehicles were required to get rid of them. Individuals were encouraged to replace two-stroke vehicles with four-stroke engines or even install catalytic converters for the two-stroke engines.

The city government of Budapest gave away public transportation passes to motorists who turned in their two-stroke-engine automobiles to be destroyed. A second aspect of the same program allowed motorists to sell their Trabants and Wartburgs to the city for a price higher than the going market rate and use the money as part of a down payment on a new, more environmentally friendly car.

The program coordinator of the "green-two-stroke" program has reported that 1,451 owners of the cars -- two-thirds own Trabants and one-third own Wartburgs -- have applied to exchange their cars for passes to use in the city's transportation system. For each Trabant, the city awarded four year-long passes. For each Wartburg, six year-long passes were issued. Pass holders can use them on any of the city's public transport systems. The program cost the city 90 million forints (US$918,367).

At the time of the program's launching, the administration displayed five selected kinds of cars in the city hall's courtyard. Dealers for 43 kinds of cars had submitted their cars for consideration. A committee chose the finalists on the basis of engine characteristics, the existence of a catalytic converter, availability of service, price, and credit conditions. It negotiated with city banks to set up purchase terms. The cars chosen for the program were the SEAT Marbella, Suzuki Swift, Opel Corsa, Renault, and Volkswagen Polo.

More than 700 owners of Trabants and Wartburgs sold their cars to the city for coupons worth 20,000 forints ($200) and 33,000 ($333) each, respectively. The motorists could add the coupons to cash for a one-third down payment on one of the five types of cars. They have the opportunity to pay off the balance of the car's purchase price over five years at annual interest rates of 13 percent to 15 percent, a rate considered highly favorable in Hungary. The cars' prices were 60,000 forints to 190,000 forints ($600-$1,900) lower than their showroom prices.

The Trabants and Wartburgs turned in by the motorists were destroyed. The cost of the program was about 17 million forints ($170,000). Taking more than 2,000 Trabants and Wartburgs off the streets was estimated at the time to eliminate 331,000 kilograms (728,200 pounds) of pollutants per year.