Good news for our friends in the Great White North. For the ’08 model year, the MINI Cooper Clubman (R55) and MINI Cooper (R56) with standard transmission are eligible for a CA$1,000 rebate from the Canadian government!

>As part of the Government of Canada’s plan to protect the environment, the ecoAUTO Rebate Program encourages Canadians to buy or lease fuel-efficient vehicles. It offers rebates from CA$1,000 to CA$2,000 to people who buy or enter a long-term lease (12 months or more) for a new fuel-efficient vehicle.

One of the requirements is for new passenger cars with a combined city-highway fuel consumption of 6.5 litres (L)/100 kilometres (km) or less. This is why the automatic transmission equiped car doesn’t get the deal.

The auto will cost you about CA$100 over the course of the year in extra fuel. Add to that the cost of that option (CA$1390) plus the lost rebate (CA$1,000) and it really will cost you over CA$2,400 the first year alone. That sounds like pretty good incentive to learn to drive a manual transmission.

Thanks to Andrei for sending this in and doing the math!

[ Vehicles Eligible for the ecoAuto Rebate Program ] Transport Canada

[ 2008 Model Year ecoAUTO Eligibility ] Complete List