Company's perk: $5,000 to buy (environmentally) clean (/efficient) car

A California company is offering its employees what it believes is a first-of-its-kind perk: $5,000 towards the purchase of a car that gets 45 miles per gallon or better.

Hyperion, a software company based in Silicon Valley, on Monday launched the program, describing it as a great way to combat global warming, clean the air and retain employees.

“Companies and individuals have extraordinary power to make a difference,” Hyperion CEO Godfrey Sullivan said in a statement announcing the initiative. “One of the most important steps an individual can take to improve the quality of our air is to drive a vehicle that goes further on a gallon or liter of gas. One of the most important steps a company can take is to help them.”

Several gas-electric hybrids, such as Toyota's Prius and Honda's Civic and Insight, are rated at better than 45 mpg by the Environmental Protection Agency. Electric cars, which are not easily available, would also qualify since they use no fossil fuel. Even some of the new, cleaner diesels could meet the standard, the company said.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6611096/

And so many companies don't even pay a livable wage or provide health insurance...

get those kind of jobs?

is pegged to CO2 emission levels and has been for a while. It stops many company car drivers buying petrol guzzling behemoths. Don't you have something similar in the US? (I can probably guess the answer)

It would be tantamount to admitting global warming existed.

We have exactly the opposite.

Using old laws intended to help farmers with their large machinery purchases, we offer rebates to almost anyone who buys a larger and heavier vehicle. Coming from a farming background I have to be fair and say that it is necessary to have big trucks to get into the back fields where my 4.0 liter engine would never survive.

On the highway is another matter entirely. The automaker's lobby and the oil industry, of course, keep this from being in the 21st century by judicious use of powerful lobbyists.

This law's needed to be revised for 20 years or more: the number of gigantic company vehicles I see every day is criminal in any sane society.

and she was able to write off an SUV purchase as a "business expense". Okay, pampered chef parties do require that you carry a lot of product around, but no more than a regular sedan would carry (I've seen it, it all fits into one or 2 1'x2' bins).

The whole frigging tag price, if she isn't lying. Isn't our backwards-ass system great?

Anybody have more info on Hyperion?

They provide business model forecasting / budgeting / number-crunching software for corporations.

Great find and good discussion started on creating incentives for eco-friendly vehicles. What's weird is that the gas savings should be reason enough.

I wish I worked for them.

If I were a buyer of enterprise analytics software, I would give them a serious look!