EarthNews

Hummer Classified as “Eco Car” in Japan

By Camilla Lie JenssenMar 9th, 2010

Hummer R.I.P

Although not frequent, there has been some discussion about eco cars here on greenz in the past. You may remember our features on the National Institute for Environmental Science’s CO2 map of Japan, Park24, one of Japan’s first car-sharing services, and of course our guide to how renewable hydrogen will change transportation as we know it.  Recently, however, we heard some rather surprising news — via Sankei News (Japanese only) and the Asiajin blog — about the new range of cars that qualify for the Japanese government’s “Eco Car” tax subsidies. One in particular, the Hummer H3 V8, was quite a shock to many of us.The Hummer was among 10 foreign cars added to the Japanese government’s “Eco Car” tax incentive scheme meant to encourage people to upgrade to more eco-friendly cars. What is happening? How can a car that emits three times more carbon dioxide than a normal car and ekes out just 14 miles to the gallon in city driving eco? We’re not sure it is, or why the government would have thought that it qualifies for the Eco Car subsidy.

Via Electrofreeze on Flickr
Photo courtesy of Electrofreeze, Flickr. Creative Commons Licence. All rights reserved.

Luckily the Hummer will slowly be phased out since the deal between General Motors and China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery fell through – ironically due to eco and oil dependency concerns by the Chinese government. Read more on the death of the Gas Guzzler in The NY Times or Guardian

Speaking of Hummer’s, check out this fabulous Hummer humour from Dan Zarella:

You know what they say, big Hummer, small.....
You know what they say, big Hummer, small…..

Read more on Japan’s decision to make the Hummer an eco-car at Sankei Shimbun (Japanese only). Story via Asia Jin.

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