I would argue it's different than smoking -- smoking laws are more about inside vs. outside. And all our environmental laws treat cars vastly different than smokers. You don't have to register and get your lungs inspected every year before operating a cigarette.

I totally agree the goal of the law, but I think I have big problems with governments deciding to ban a major capital investment that is only a few years old. Or even one that is several years old, but was plainly legal at the time and isn't substantially different than another car on the road.

I'd rather they focus on broad-based auto congestion pricing to keep as many cars out of Paris, instead of focusing just on old ones. Unless pre-1996 cars are 200x worse than newer cars, it seems much fairer to keep tackling all car traffic on in even-handed way.

Or they could just have a VAT holiday on all car purchases for the next two years to incentivize replacement.

But, as we've said, the situation is different because the emissions control regime is so much newer in France. It's a completely different environment (pun intended) than what us Amerikans are used to, which changes the conversation.