Honda weighs safety cuts to qualify for CDN efficiency rebate
Now it's Honda's turn to have a high-ranking official spout inanities in the press.
A vice-president of Honda Canada was quoted today responding to the fuel efficiency rebate here which the Fit barely missed qualifying for, while the Toyota Yaris snuck in: Quote:
DUH. How about a slightly taller final drive, and leave the airbags in? Or a more efficient engine, which is available in every other markets outside of North America? This reads like political posturing more than anything else. --- Relevant to discussion in these threads: |
If Honda Canada were "seriously considering" offering less safety equipment in a special Fit model that would make it eligible for the efficiency rebate, it would be spinning it positively in marketing-speak. It would NOT be sending an executive v.p. out to publicly question the "value of a human life" in the mass media.
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Matt -
This "Fits" your reduced safety argument. What's your take? I don't think there is a safety compromise argument that has legs here. If they barely missed the qualification, they can tweak the drivetrain to "Fit" the Canadian specs and offer it as the "Rebate Fit". YF(it)MV CarloSW2 |
Or, downsize the engine and drop in a taller OD gear. :rolleyes:
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And then they could market it as "the safest small car available that qualifies for a rebate, blah, blah".
I stick to my previous interpretation: they're just being tools. |
I think it's a poke at the Yaris. "You can drive our nice safe car, or you can drive that tin can Yaris. I guess if your life is only worth a thousand bucks, you could choose that piece of junk."
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I think you're right - it's both a poke at the Yaris and the feds.
I'm sure Honda would love nothing more than to see a headline, or a letter to the editor saying "Federal efficiency rebate program will lead to more road deaths." |
Oh give me a break! As if stripping life saving equipment is the only way to increase a car's EPA performance :rolleyes:.
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This probably is a publicity stunt as well. Cheap advertisement for the cars safety and fuel mileage in a way alot of people will remember, both for the current car and the future "striped down" model. This might be a smart move, rather than make statements of your companies inability to meet regulations (can you imagine how the entire engineering/research/tech staff are feeling about such a stupid statement?) or make cost estimates with no basis to scare people. |
omgwtfbyobbq -
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The drivetrain already exists in other countries, right? Stop complaining and offer it to the Canadian public. CarloSW2 |
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