December 11, 2007

Changes to 2008 Honda Fit, Civic make them eligible for federal eco-AUTO rebates

Toronto, Ontario - Engineering changes to all 2008 Honda Fits (DX, LX and Sport) equipped with five-speed manual transmissions, and all Honda Civic models (DX, DX-G, LX and EX-L) equipped with five-speed manual transmissions has resulted in fuel economy rating reductions that qualify them for the Government of Canada's 2008 ecoAUTO Rebate program, announced Honda Canada.

Qualification for the program is based on Transport Canada's combined city-highway fuel economy rating of 6.5 litres per 100 kilometres or less. The government's ecoAUTO rebates for Fit and Civic are $1,000. The Civic Hybrid remains on the government's list for 2008 with a $2,000 rebate. The changes to manual-transmission Civic models include both sedan and coupe, except for the high-performance Civic Si coupe and sedan.

In addition to the government's rebate for all manual transmission-equipped Fit models, Honda Canada is offering a $750 "gasoline card" for all automatic transmission-equipped 2008 Fit models.

"We worked very hard within an incredibly short period of time with Honda's research and development teams and our assembly facilities to make the necessary changes to allow manual transmission-equipped Fit and Civic models to qualify for the rebate program," said Jim Miller, executive vice president of Honda Canada Inc. "The changes that Honda Canada made to these Fit and Civic models are quite significant. However, we were able to make these engineering changes without any compromises to our full complement of standard safety features."

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