For those of you how have might missed the story, the Canadian Government issued earlier this year an eco-rebate system that provides a refund of up to $2,000 for cars that have an avg, consumption of less than 6.5-liters per 100km, but nothing to those above that line. Honda’s Fit (Jazz in Europe) boasts an avg. consumption of 6.6-litres per 100km while Toyota’s Yaris achieves a 6.4-liters figure, thus, qualifying for a $1.000 CND rebate which helped its sales climb 15% in April (vs Fit’s 1% decline).
One plus one makes two and Honda Canada didn’t stick around with its thumb up its fuel pump. Starting off from Saturday, March 19, 2007, Honda is publishing an open letter on all Canadian newspapers criticizing the government’s rebate program. According to Honda, consumers shouldn’t have to choose between an ecoAuto rebate and vehicles that offer the right balance of safety and environmental responsibility. Simply put, Honda’s saying our car has slightly higher avg. consumption over the Yaris cause its safer -U.S. regulators gave the Fit five-star crash worthiness, compared with a four-star rating for the Yaris.
We could give them a point there, but then again, let’s say the Canadian Government changed its decision announcing eco-rebates for all cars with an avg. consumption of less than 7.0-litres per 100 km. How many car manufactures would pop-up the next day repeating Honda’s accusations? Via:Autoblog.com , Source: theglobeandmail