Federal Tax Credits for 2008 Ford Hybrids

The 2008 Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner Hybrids are getting a bump up in federal tax credits. The FWD models will be $3,000 and the 4WD can net you $2,200 in credits.

Since Toyota hit the 60,000 limit halfway through last year, their tax credits have been phasing out. Which means Ford hybrid buyers can claim (and Ford wants you to know it) the most tax credits.

For both vehicles, the new EPA-certified fuel economy for FWD models is 34 mpg city and 30 mpg highway, and 29 mpg city and 27 mpg highway for AWD models. The tax credits increased because their real world fuel economy increased for 2008.

Cities in Illinois could have to go hybrid

An Illinois Representative wants all cites to buy hybrid or other alternative fuel vehicles. Rep Mike Boland, D-East Moline wants to accomplish two things. Promote E85 and help the environment.

The biggest problem with encouraging E85 or biodiesel, of course, would be the availability. Most towns are unlikely to have a pump serving either nearby, so buying an E85 or biodiesel vehicle would either 1) be a waste of time since they would be using gasoline anyways or 2) require a pump to be installed locally, costing the towns even more money.

Hybrid cars come with the larger price tags, which can be hard for towns, especially smaller ones) to swallow. Although, I would want to point out the recent studies which came to the conclusion that they would save money in the long term. (A little bit of sarcasm here - if there's one thing I would bet local town budgets are noted for, it's long term planning .

Source: STLtoday - News - Illinois News

Bentley Hybrid

According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Bentley is considering putting in hybrid or diesel engines as early as next year (found via GermanCarBlog). While I couldn't begin to translate the article, autobloggreen has.

According to them Bentley (which is connected to Volkswagen) is looking to transform their image by installing diesel and hybrid engine into next year's models. Profitability comes first, however.

Perhaps they are just responding to other luxury car makers recent announcements on providing hybrids in the coming years.

Autoblog would prefer they just make diesel engines, but I'd say that's only going to help part of their image. Wouldn't hybrid engines help Bentley when it comes to future guidelines regarding emissions? Also, if they are looking to expand into the US, hybrids are currently more popular than diesels.

As a side note (again from the translation from autobloggreen), Bentley sold about 9,300 vehicles last year. Their sales goal is to sell between 9 and 10,000 vehicles a year.

Parking in Portland

According to kgw of Oregon and SW Washington, City Center Parking in Portland is partnering with the Oregon Environmental Council to offer discounts to hybrid car drivers. Like HOV perks in California, these discounts are only being offered to those hybrids that are above and beyond, i.e. they get over 35 mpg.

The discount is being called the Drive Green, Save Green campaign.

Hybrid car owners can save up to $15 monthly on their parking fees or about $180 a year. About 200 people have already signed up for the discount, meaning the garage has already lost out on $36,000.

As Greg Goodman, president of City Center Parking puts it, "No, it's not chump change, but in the scope of things it's just the right thing to do."

Source: kgw.com | hybrid car parking discount