An article in the Globe and Mail notes that Toyota is the big winner in this week’s federal budget as buyers of its segment sells leading Yaris subcompact would receive a $1,000 rebate while cars from competitors in the budget subcompact field will not. The margin of “victory” is quite small. From the article:
The Yaris costs $14,605 while the Fit costs $14,980 so a $1,000 rebate is very significant and will not doubt improve the Yaris’ one number sales position. Honda’s engineers will be certainly looking for ways to shave the needed 0.1 litres per 100 KM. In the meantime maybe Honda should offer to plant a few trees with every Honda Fit sold if the rebate gets applied to it also.
Another article looks at the negative impact of the gas-guzzler levy on North American auto manufacturers and their Canadian operations. One analyst notes that General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are all facing challenges to their survival, “They send a bomb — a missile — into these boardrooms saying we're going to put a $4,000 tax on your most profitable vehicles"”