Buying a hybrid may make sense in a world of $4 per gallon gasoline, but according to several sources, some hybrids just grew more expensive. Consumer Affairs reports, "The Internal Revenue Service is cutting the tax credit available to consumers who buy a new Honda hybrid." The full credit only applies to the first 60,000 hybrids a company sells.
Because Honda has now sold more than 60,000 hybrids since Jan 2006, "the IRS said that purchasers of qualifying Honda vehicles may continue to claim just 50 percent of the credit for hybrids bought between January 1 and June 30, 2008." The Honda hybrid credit "is cut in half on July 1 and disappears altogether on January 1, 2009." New Jersey's Courier-Post notes that the tax credit has already expired on Toyota hybrids. "The tax credit has always been tough to understand. Currently, the credit applies to all qualified purchases of hybrid and lean-technology vehicles sold from 2006 through 2010." However, "The dollar amount of credits can change based on the fuel economy and weight of the model, as well as how many vehicles the manufacturer already has sold." Only the first 60,000 hybrids a manufacturer sells "qualify for the full credit."
Honda and Toyota have both exceeded the limit.
But some hybrid vehicles still qualify. "Ford Motor Co. might hit the cap this year, but General Motors Corp. isn't anywhere close to that."
The government could extend new hybrid tax credits soon. Nevada's Review-Journal notes that a bill passed by the House of Representatives yesterday would offer "tax credits of $4,000 to $6,000 for families to buy plug-in hybrid cars." Though several automakers are studying plug-in hybrids, none are currently on the market in the U.S.
Manufacturers are still planning new hybrid models. CNet reports, "Honda announced it will unveil a new global hybrid car at the 2008 Paris Auto Show, which will launch in 2009 along with another hybrid based on the CR-Z concept." The two cars will both "be produced as hybrid models without a gas-only counterpart, similar to Toyota's Prius." The automaker plans "to sell 400,000 hybrids per year by 2011."
Toyota may make news with its own new hybrid, this one a performance car. Autoblog reports that the automaker may be planning a production version of its FT-HS concept, a high-performance hybrid sports coupe. At the Melbourne Auto Show yesterday, Peter Evans, corporate manger of product planning for Toyota Australia, told a crowd the concept "could be a vision for a Toyota Supra of the future." It may not have been idle speculation. The same quote is in Toyota's press materials for the Melbourne show, which "means it passed by the eyes of countless PR people whose job it is to vet press releases for embarrassing mistakes." Kicking Tires notes that Toyota has also "announced the next step in the Prius' evolution: a third-generation Prius set to debut at the 2009 Detroit auto show," as well as "the development of a hybrid-only Lexus model."
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