http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/200...ar-rebate.html

 

"Critics say it puts Canadian automakers at a competitive disadvantage by largely rewarding people for buying imported models."

The Civic Hybrid ($2000 Federal rebate) is made in Japan, but the standard Civic models ($1000 Fed rebate) are made in Alliston, Ontario. Do the Critics consider this to be an import as well? I don't foresee Honda closing these plants. Maybe Honda can utilize the employment gap left by GM today to meet the demand.

http://www.tc.gc.ca/programs/environ...ligibility.htm

I haven't taken the time to see where the rest of the vehicles on the list are made. The only problem I had with the list was the rebate on Flex-fuel vehicles. I have yet to see a station selling E85, and likely never will, but almost every vehicle is driving around with the Flex-fuel badge on.


This is a also good read for all.

The number of the day: 4.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008...8-ford-150.php

 

Sounds like political maneuvering to me. Election coming up, GM shuts down some lines, someone blames a current government eco plan as the cause. bla bla bla it never ends. Can you tell I love polititians?
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I would have bought a hybrid even if there wasn't a rebate for it. I'm getting a $200/month rebate by not burning as much the gas on a domestic unit due to the fact I'm getting almost twice as many mpg as my old ford.

 

You knew this would happen. The idiots executives who bankrupted their own car companies, and the politicians they bribe -- OOPS, I mean "donate to their campaigns" -- are blaming anyone but themselves. They're claiming that their misfortune is the consumers' fault.

Sure, they kept right on building 15 mpg trucks and SUVs as gasoline climbed to $2, then $3, then $4 per gallon. But, see, it's OUR fault for refusing to buy them anymore. If we would just sacrifice our money on their gas guzzlers, their companies, and government gas tax revenue, would be fine.

I mean, what do we consumers expect automakers to do? Revamp their entire design philosophy just because customers want them to? Come on! That'd take a lot of time and effort. How would they manage to do that and still enjoy power lunches, and "business" rounds of golf, and corporate "conferences" at exclusive vacation resorts?

If you can't keep collecting a seven-figure salary for doing the same thing year after year, then what's the point of being an auto executive, anyway?
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I think the American tax credit incentive was a more responsible strategy because it had defined limits which could be budgeted. The Canadian one, on the other hand, simply opened the flood gates to consumer spending and relied on estimates of how many vehicles consumers were likely to buy or lease. It was even more rewarding to be living in a province that had their own rebates because for this short period of time you could double-dip and effectively negate the hybrid premium. Ontario's rebate is set to a maximum of $2000 for all HEVs, but it was a rebate of the (provincial) sales tax. So, if you were to trade-in your old vehicle that would probably reduce your rebate. I don't know what kind of a message that sends in promoting cleaner vehicles. However, if you sold your old vehicle in a private sale, the buyer would have to pay the sales tax on the purchase and you could in turn maximize your rebate.

Selfishly, I accepted the $4000 total in rebates, but I worried about how these programmes were costing fellow taxpayers. In principal, I don't believe private transportation should be subsidized. It just doesn't give the kind of return that a bail-out package for a manufacturer would, for example.

 

I wonder how many vehicles this amount actually represents?

If you take an average of the federal grants available ($1300) - though I have no idea how the models actually sell, just messing with numbers atm.

If you take 120 Million, divide it by 1300 you get 92,307 vehicles purchased with the eco-auto program

http://www.tc.gc.ca/programs/environ...ligibility.htm

Of course a good chunck of that 120 mill probably went back to the government to pay for the salaries etc of the people maintaining the program, so there's probably less then 90,000 vehicles purchased.

How many cars are purchased in Canada in a year..I'll try to google that when I'm not at work heh.
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"As a result, we have raised our full-year 2008 forecast to 1.69 million units, the second-highest level on record, from our previous estimate of 1.61 million."

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/05/28/carsales.html
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So the eco-auto program represents approximately ~5% of yearly sales? Probably much less.

 

GM and Canadian Government spin machines running overtime?

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Ottawa greenlights $92M program to clear old cars from road

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/200...vironment.html

"Car Heaven was largely funded by General Motors and Imperial Oil, and it offered $750 toward a new GM vehicle to drivers who sent their cars and trucks to the scrapyard."

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I'm starting to regret reading the news.

1. GM offers $750 rebate (since July 2000) to trade in your old car for a GM - "Green by Design"

2. Automotive industry bashes eco program for promoting non domestic cars that get great fuel economy as "an utter disaster"

3. Profit????? - remember you use twice the gas, the government gets twice the revenue as well.

 

I lso think that Scott's not perceptive on associating with a program that "can" propose motivations through incentives to buy the latest cars.
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Updates for nouvelle lights.