Cars
Published on December 16th, 2020 |
by Jo Borrás
December 16th, 2020 by Jo Borrás
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A major, legacy auto manufacturer develops a potentially industry-defining new electric car and offers it up to early adopters on a lease-only basis. The infrastructure isn’t quite there (yet), but the people who lease the car think it’s great — and many of them would love to keep it, or even lease/buy another one! For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, however, the manufacturer kills it off, and orders all of the remaining, off-lease examples of the car get sent to the crusher.
No, we’re not talking about GM and the EV-1. We’re talking about the Honda Clarity.
And, if you think I’m exaggerating about Honda killing these off, here’s a video on TikTok shared by an LKQ employee who claims to have received 150 Honda Clarity Fuel Cell EVs to crush. Be warned, however: it’s not for the faint of heart.
@edgar.chupadita Like If you want to see more , I like making these videos #honda #lkq #GoodMorning #fyp
Ignoring the fact that the poster, Edgar “Chupadita” Sanchez, decided to post some rather upbeat music to this video, it’s super disturbing. Heck, Edgar’s music choice may make it moreso — especially considering that these seem to be fully serviceable, safe, and somewhat desirable vehicles that could be re-sold into the market. Surely there are some single moms and working families that live close enough to a fuel cell filling station in the Bay Area or SoCal who would happily pay the scrap value of a Honda Clarity to have access to a modern car with modern safety features. No?
There’s not a whole lot about this video that makes sense to me, in terms of why Honda would do this — but there’s a good reason, right? Surely this can’t be some kind of cynical cash grab to hide IP and push people to buy more new cars, environmental waste be damned. Right?
The CleanTechnica hivemind is usually smarter than I am, so I want you guys and gals and Russian bots to scroll on down to the comments section at the bottom of the page and let me know why you think the off-lease Honda Clarity FCEVs are being systematically killed off by salvage yards by their very makers. Enjoy!
Source | Images: @edgar.chupadita on TikTok, via HondaPro Jason.
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About the Author
Jo Borrás I’ve been involved in motorsports and tuning since 1997, and have been a part of the Important Media Network since 2008. You can find me here, working on my Volvo fansite, riding a motorcycle around Chicago, or chasing my kids around Oak Park.