Nissan Expands Green Cars Line-up for New Japanese Tax Breaks

31 March, 2009 09:57:00

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Nissan Motor Co. has improved fuel economy on seven models sold in Japan that will be eligible for Japanese tax breaks beginning in April.

In its announcement, Japan's No.3 automaker said its line-up of fuel-efficient green cars eligible for the tax breaks would expand to 13 from six starting in late April, in a move that it hoped would help its domestic sales grow in the new business year from Wednesday.

The Japanese government is considering offering subsidies for the purchase of hybrid and other energy-saving cars of between 100,000 yen (1,015$) and 300,000 yen (3,045$) per vehicle from fiscal 2009 in a bid to stimulate the economy and the auto industry, government sources said Monday.

The promotional campaign comes as many analysts are warning that Nissan is lagging behind rivals like Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. in the introduction of hybrid models such as the Prius and the Insight, which have shown strong sales despite plunging auto sales.

Toyota and Honda have 28 and nine models, respectively, that qualify for the varying degrees of preferential tax treatment.

The automaker expects the tax breaks to boost its domestic vehicle sales in fiscal 2009 by between 30,000 and 40,000 units. The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said earlier that it expects a total sales increase of about 310,000 domestic vehicles as a result of the government measure.

Vehicles that deliver 25% improvement over the 2010 Fuel Economy Standards qualify for 75% tax breaks in automobile acquisition and weight taxation. This includes seven vehicles: Cube, Note, Tiida, Tiida Latio, Wingroad, X-TRAIL and Serena. Whereas vehicles that deliver 15% improvement over the 2010 Fuel Economy Standards receive 50% tax break in the automobile acquisition and weight taxation.

The Nissan X-TRAIL Clean Diesel qualifies for maximum tax break at zero tax.

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