Ontario taxpayers subsidized buyers of $1.1 million Porsche 918 Spyder

The Ontario government gave taxpayer-funded rebatesto five millionaires to buy one of the most expensive cars ever manufactured, thePorsche 918Spyder.

CBC News has learnedthat five Ontario drivers received funding throughthe province'sElectric Vehicle Incentive Program in 2015 for buying the Porsche 918, which retailed in Canada at about $1.1 million.

• Ontario boosts incentives for electric vehicles
• Michael Wekerle's Porsche 918 Spyder burns at Caledon gas station

The 918 is a plug-in hybrid, assembled by hand at aspecializedPorschefactory in Stuttgart, Germany, and hailed by the company as "the future of the sports car."Road tests showed the 887-horsepower supercarcouldacceleratefrom 0 to 100 km/h in 2.2 seconds.

Documents obtained by CBC News show the taxpayer-fundedrebates to five Porsche 918Spyderbuyers in Ontarioaveraged $5,538 each.

"Why are we subsidizing luxury vehicles for millionaires?" asked Christine Van Geyn, Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, in an interview with CBC News. "If you can afford a PorscheSpyderyou probably don'tneeda $5,000 subsidy from regular folks."

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne reacted to the CBC News story on Tuesday with a similar tone.

"If anybody's payingthat amount of money for a car, they probably don't need a $5,000 rebate, I get that," Wynnetold reporters in Hamilton.

Wynnenoted that hergovernmentrecentlychanged the rulesfor its electric vehicle incentives, so cars thatretail for more than $150,000 are no longer eligible for rebates.

"We have refocused the program to make sure that it's targeted at the most efficient technologies and affordable vehicles," she said.

Porschemanufactured only 918 of the Spyders for distribution worldwide, and they sold out within a year.A usedPorsche918Spyderwith355kilometreson the odometer is currentlyfor sale from a Montreal dealership for $2,050,000.

Multi-millionaire investor Michael Wekerle ofCBC Dragons' Denwas one Ontario-basedbuyer of the vehicle. Wekerle'sspokesperson KellyPullentold CBC News onWednesdaythat he didnotapply for arebate.Wekerle'sPorsche 918 went up in flames at a service station in Caledon,northwest of Toronto, in September 2014.

Few electric vehicles wereon the market when Ontario's incentiveprogram was launched in 2010, saidTransportation Ministry spokesman Bob Nicholsin a statement. "The program's objectives at this time were tosupport the adoption of electric vehicles and to incentivize early adopters," he said.

"Thewhole program should really bescrapped," said VanGeyn. "We don'tneedtoincentivizepeopleto bebuyingthese cars.It just doesn'tmake any policy sense."

The documents obtained by CBC News reveal thatOntario taxpayers have subsidized the buyers of other cars with six-figure price tags.

• $362,032 in incentives to 64 wealthy Ontarians to buy the BMW i8, a car that currently retails at $150,000 in Canada.
• $212,500 in subsidies to 25 drivers tobuythe Fisker Karma (retail price: $103,000 US, or roughly $130,000 Cdn ).
• $170,000 in rebates to20 buyers of the Tesla Roadster Convertible(retail price: $109,000 US, or roughly $138,000 Cdn).

From the program's inception in 2010 until the changes announcedin February, Ontario gave $39 millionin electric vehicle incentives to 4,793 drivers. The most popular vehicle in Ontario's electric vehicle incentive program isthe Chevrolet Volt Hatchback, with 1,200 owners getting rebates totaling$9,955,748.