Chapter IV of Part II of the Finance Act, 1992, is amended by the insertion of the following after section 135B:

"135C.

(1) Where a person first registers a category A vehicle or a category B vehicle during the period from 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2002 and the Commissioners are satisfied that the vehicle is a series production hybrid electric vehicle, the Commissioners may remit or repay to that person 50 per cent of the vehicle registration tax payable or paid in accordance with paragraphs (a), (aa), (b) or (c) of section 132(3).

(2) In this section 'hybrid electric vehicle' means a vehicle that derives its motive power from a combination of an electric motor and an internal combustion engine and is capable of being driven on electric propulsion alone for a material part of its normal driving cycle.",