By Jove, they've done it! Honda adds a few more MPGs to Canadian Fit
Autoblog regulars will remember the ongoing feud between Honda Canada and the Canadian government. The conflict centers around Ottawa's new budget that contains the ecoAuto program, which offers between $1,000 and $2,500 rebates on certain fuel efficient vehicles and up to a $4,000 penalty on gas guzzlers. The Honda Fit, which is very popular in Canada, missed the cutoff for being eligible for a rebate because it consumes 6.6L of fuel every 100 kilometers, just one tenth of a liter more than the federal criteria for the rebate. The Civic misses the mark, however, by one-third to a half liter every 100 kilometers. Honda threw a fit at what it saw as a federal endorsement of fuel economy over safety, as well as the unfair advantage it gave to competitors like the Toyota Yaris, which did qualify for the rebate but performed less well in crash tests. Honda even went so far as to offer its own $1,000 rebate on the Fit in protest.
In the meantime, Honda engineers have been going over the Fit to eek out a few more miles per gallon, and they've done it on the Fit equipped with a manual transmission. While confirming that they did not reduce the vehicles weight by deleting safety options to achieve the fuel savings, Honda was mum on exactly how it was achieved except to say "internal tinkering" was involved.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look they'll be able to perform the same miracle with the Fit that's equipped with an automatic, though in Canada the manual Fit sells more anyway. The Civic, which is less fuel-efficient than either Fit, has pretty much no hope of ever meeting the governments criteria for the rebate.
Thanks for the tip, Steve!
[Source: The Star]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Paul C. 4:22PM (7/24/2007)
Ottawa is not a province, but a city. The capital of Canada.
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Ohhh Canahhhdahh.... 5:00PM (7/24/2007)
Isn't Canada part of the U.S. anyway?
vdk 9:55PM (7/24/2007)
no Canada is not part of the US .... jesus... and yeah the Province is called Ontario... like the lake you know.... lake Ontario?
naggs 2:17PM (8/09/2007)
no... im pretty sure its part of the us...
Don 4:23PM (7/24/2007)
Wow...what whiny brats.
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iDevin 4:31PM (7/24/2007)
This proves how well federal regulations on fuel economy can work. Honda tried bullying the government into dropping the regs and when the government said no Honda went back and made a better product benefiting the customers, the government, the environment, and ultimately Honda themselves. It's just a shame that we need regulations to force the automakers to take the steps that they should be taking simply because they want to produce higher quality wares and remain competitive. I can only imagine how well electric vehicle technology would have advanced if the California Air Resources Board had grown a spine and kept the ZEV mandate.
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DW 4:33PM (7/24/2007)
Do you guys really know that little about Canada...
Sigh...
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DW 4:40PM (7/24/2007)
And you guys even made that mistake previously, in an article you linked!
Stoneman 4:32PM (7/24/2007)
Wow, Ottawa is a province.............AGAIN.
Good job autoblog!!!
stonemanautoreview.com
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Aaron 4:42PM (7/24/2007)
lmao I recall last time this was talked about, the Ottawa province GAFF took place BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
Well anyways, kudos to the whiners at honda for tweaking things so they can take advantage of the latest waste of my tax dollars.
Further to this, the fact that our crossovers are selling so well, I don't know why all the manufacturers are burning the minight oil to extract a little more out of their vehicles, as there are a few (like the 5 speed patriot 4x4 limited my brother just bought) which miss the boat only by a little.
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Barney 5:41PM (7/24/2007)
""so they can take advantage of the latest waste of my tax dollars""
Just how are YOUR tax dollars envolved?
Aaron 5:58PM (7/24/2007)
Barney,
Unless I'm off base, if the government of canada gives someone back 1000, 1500, 2000 when they buy certain cars, I assume the money will come from somewhere.. Irrelevant at this point is the guzzler tax now, this is a drain on their revenues - the eco rebate.
I don't agree with the guzzler tax or the eco rebate (especially iin its execution). Our fuel prices are a built in deterrant - how do we pay for our medicare?
They saw fit to leave pickup trucks out of the mix for guzzler application, and in my view the program is just politically loaded to appease pinkos, but doesn't go all the way so as not to truly piss off the conservative voting base.
Mind you I'm not Al Gore.
p.s. car sales in canada by the end of june I recall were down .8%, while truck sales were up SUBSTANTIALLY.
go figure.
Barney 12:12AM (7/25/2007)
"p.s. car sales in canada by the end of june I recall were down .8%, while truck sales were up SUBSTANTIALLY.
go figure."
One word: Alberta
I actually thought the rebate was on the GST. Less tax paid. We do pay enough of them. Gas goes up everytime we blink an eye and still has little effect on what we drive. I burn fuel for a living and the higher it goes, the less I make. Unless I pass the expense on to you. Unfortunately commercial trucks don't get a tax break.
G 4:42PM (7/24/2007)
lol Autoblog, you guys are typical Americans, ignorant about the rest of the world.
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jcuoit 6:13PM (7/24/2007)
Thats just generalizing them. they are probably just misled by the complete lack of interest that most have for Ottawa. lord knows is a terribly boring town.
lived there, left there. now live in Oshawa, what an improvement.
JC
AlexP 6:27PM (7/24/2007)
... When exactly did you leave? I mean sure, the population is boring (what do you expect? We're all office workers/civil servants), but it's a lot nicer now.
Gatineau sucks though, things have barely changed since the 80's here.
B-NOIT 4:43PM (7/24/2007)
Impressive that most comments (up to this point) are about the stupid mistake in the first sentence. Must admit it threw me off too; didn't get past that first sentence either.
Autoblog, please re-read and double-check before posting. Or else I'll show up at the White House in New York and have a petition signed by the Sultan.
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Barney 5:40PM (7/24/2007)
"....signed by the Sultan.."
That's stupid, when we all know the Sultan is in the hospital getting his hemroids removed.
MJL 4:50PM (7/24/2007)
Oh come now, you dirty Canadians, leave them alone. While you were busy whining about insignificant geographic minutiae (capital of your country??) Autoblog wrote one of the best puns ever: "Honda threw a fit at what it saw as a federal endorsement of fuel economy over safety." I think we should congratulate them on the smoothness of that delivery.
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B-NOIT 4:56PM (7/24/2007)
Puns are the lowest form of humour. And knowing the capital of your neighbouring country should be common knowledge.
...But I admit the delivery was smooth. Kudos for the use of language, but it's weighed down by the grammar mistakes anyway.