The council said it had taken the expected profit from the scheme into account in the budget for the current financial year, investing it in subsidised bus routes.

BBC: Bus lane Leicester

Analysts say Honda needs to phase out those generous incentives to meet a bullish goal of achieving an operating profit of 6% of sales for the current year, up from a paltry 2.9% of sales last year but still down from a high of 9.1% in 2002.

WSJ: Honda Pins Revival on U.S. Auto Sales

To ensure stronger profit growth, sales volumes will need to recover from the current volume of about 1.2 million cars per year.

BBC: Mazda chief looks to reinvent the brand