By KEN THOMAS, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Toyota North American President Jim Press urged Congress Wednesday to extend federal tax credits for hybrid vehicles and accelerate its buying of hybrids and alternative fleet vehicles to help address energy concerns. Complete story here....
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mehrenst @ Nov 29 2006, 03:33 PM) [snapback]355427[/snapback]</div> Hybrid Owners of America (HOA) is the hybrid owner's new lobby. We Need More Hybrids and Hybrid Incentives. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/10/hybrid_owners_o.php "Let your members of Congress and White House know you want action NOW!" http://www.hybridownersofamerica.org/HelpH...ners_step1.html
I know that there are some who read about the Hybrid Owners of America and think, "oh geez, how stupid is that." Take a quick browse over to http://www.suvoa.org/ I saw a piece on TV where a representative from SUVOA was concerned that SUVs were getting a bad shake in the media.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Nov 30 2006, 09:18 AM) [snapback]355730[/snapback]</div> Hybrid Owners of America has a mission, to eliminate years of technological stagnation by encouraging hybrids, alternative fuels, reducing dependence on oil, and reducing emissions to halt any further damage to our increasingly fragile ecosystem and obvious repercussions. Other vehicles as well as SUVs do have the right to organize, but in my opinion they are basically just car clubs, not that there is anything wrong with that.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(HBO6 @ Nov 30 2006, 12:04 PM) [snapback]355717[/snapback]</div> Instead of asking the government to pay for the rebate perhaps Toyota and the dealers should reduce the selling price or offer their own rebate to stimulate sales. Why does the #1 auto maker in the world need a welfare program?
Hey Jim. I try to not think of it as "welfare". Instead, I think of the billions of dollars already paid out by the United States government to support fuel-saving and alternative fuel technologies. That I can tell, no internal R&D program has yet to come even close to producing the results Toyota's HSD system has. So if any government wanted to promote fuel savings on the cheap, they would pay people a few thousand dollars apiece to buy someone's existing technology. It's tons cheaper than pumping billions of dollars into the bottomless pit of Detroit Research (which has yet to result in viable Development).
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JimN @ Nov 30 2006, 10:20 PM) [snapback]356048[/snapback]</div> The tax cut was not at all aimed exclusively at Toyota. The current list of tax incentives at http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=157557,00.html lists cars by Ford, Honda, Toyota, Chevrolet, GMC, Lexus, Mercury, and Saturn. Furthermore, as this credit was included in The Energy Policy Act of 2005, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Policy_Act_of_2005#Tax_breaks_by_subject_area), a quick glance at it reveals that hybrid vehicles were hardly the real beneficiaries. Those who benefitted most from the act were Oil and energy companies. ($4.3 Billion for nuclear power, $2.8 billion for fossil fuel production, $2.7 billion to extend the renewable electricity production credit, $1.6 billion in tax incentives for investments in clean coal facilities).
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MegansPrius @ Dec 1 2006, 12:11 PM) [snapback]356286[/snapback]</div> Dare I say it? If it was Ford that sole 60,000 Hybrid Escapes by this last summer, the extension would have passed already!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jfschultz @ Dec 1 2006, 02:48 PM) [snapback]356308[/snapback]</div> Yes. This bill was structured to screw Toyota and favor the American auto companies, purely and simply. Perhaps this could, in some way, be construed to be a WTO violation. Or how about equal protection? This was an admission on their part that Toyota had a far superior product, both technically and from a marketing standpoint. Having said that, and even though I am own a Prius and used to own a Honda Hybrid, I have never favored incentives specifically aimed at hybrids. Incentives should be aimed at gas mileage, period. Let the best technology win.
