The Financial Times of 20 May reports impressive results from an ‘eco-car tax break’ in Japan which can reduce the cost of the most fuel-efficient vehicles by several thousand dollars.  Honda’s recently introduced Insight hybrid is the top selling full-size car, helped by this tax break, with Toyota’s latest version of the Prius also expected to benefit.

Contrast this with Jeremy Clarkson’s amusing and excoriating review of the Insight in the recent edition of the Sunday Times – ‘possibly the worst new car money can buy’ – centred on how badly it drives.  Clarkson talks some good sense in his populist style:

‘Since about 1917 the car industry has not had a technological revolution — unlike, say, the world of communications or film. There has never been a 3G moment at Peugeot nor a need to embrace DVD at Nissan. There has been no VHS/Betamax battle between Fiat and Renault.  Car makers, then, have had nearly a century to develop and hone the principles of suck, squeeze, bang, blow. And they have become very good at it.

'But now comes the need to throw away the heart of the beast, the internal combustion engine, and start again. And, critically, the first of the new cars with their new power systems must be better than the last of the old ones. Or no one will buy them. That’s a tall order. That’s like dragging Didier Drogba onto a cricket pitch and expecting him to be better than Ian Botham.

'And here’s the kicker. That’s exactly what Honda has done with its other eco-car, the Clarity. Instead of using a petrol engine to charge up the electric motor’s batteries, as happens on the Insight, the Clarity uses hydrogen: the most abundant gas in the universe.  The only waste product is water. The car feels like a car. And, best of all, the power it produces is so enormous, it can be used by day to get you to 120mph and by night to run all the electrical appliances in your house. This is not science fiction. There is a fleet of Claritys running around California right now. There are problems to be overcome. Making hydrogen is a fuel-hungry process, and there is no infrastructure. But Alexander Fleming didn’t look at his mould and think, “Oh dear, no one will put that in their mouth”, and give up.’

Arguably, Jeremy C underestimates the problems with hydrogen, but the insight is surely right that post-oil cars must perform at least as well as standard cars if they are to displace the existing vehicle stock.

Also in the same issue of the FT is the news that Daimler has bought a 10% stake in Tesla Motors, makers of the high performance electric roadster based on the Lotus Elise.  A vote of confidence in Tesla from the makers of Mercedes-Benz.