China makes us jealous by offering huge incentives to green car buyers

Governments here in the U.S. have been kind enough to offer some significant incentives for purchasing green vehicles. Buyers can get up to $7,500 off an electric vehicle, thousands off on hybrids, and there are some deeper discounts for buyers in some states that have decided to offer additional rebates. Though incentives here are strong, China has taken this rebate thing to the next level.

According to the Shanghai Securities News, the Chinese government has finalized a plan to offer incentives to buyers of green vehicles. The government will offer maximum subsidies of $7,300 (U.S., at today's exchange rates) for plug-in hybrids and an amazing $8,800 for fully-electric vehicles. Full details will be released by the Chinese government within the next few days, but the numbers are enough to make us jealous already. Surprisingly, the rebate for a standard hybrid vehicle in China comes in at a measly $440 – kind of odd if you ask us. Perhaps the government thinks that standard hybrids are already yesterday's technology, whereas plug-in hybrids and electrics are the future. Hat tip to Larz!