Aussie car industry slams NZ targets

The leading body for Australia’s new-car industry has described proposed vehicle emissions targets in New Zealand as “madness”.

Tony Weber, chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), says the government’s ambitions risk crippling the new-car market in New Zealand.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced plans in January for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from passenger vehicles to average 102g/km by 2025. The figure for light vehicles is currently about 171g CO2/km.

Under the Clean Car Import Standard, light commercial vehicles must emit less than 132g CO2/km by the same deadline. The different targets are designed to give all new vehicles entering the country from 2025 an average emissions figure of 105g CO2/km, equivalent to a 40 per cent reduction in five years.

The government plans to introduce legislation this year, with the standard coming into force from 2022. Penalties on importers who miss emissions targets will start to be levied from 2023.

Weber, pictured, says: “What they're trying to do in New Zealand … is madness. You can’t do this in a short timeframe.

“The better thing is to … make that transition [to lower-emissions vehicles] over a long period of time.”  

His comments to the CarAdvice website come after the FCAI released the first annual results of its voluntary emissions reduction code.

Weber adds the targets, which may lead to new-car prices being increased to reduce the appeal of high-emissions vehicles, poses a threat to sales in what is an already fragile market.

“Five years is tomorrow in the car industry,” he says, referring to the average five-year timeline required to take vehicles with new technologies from the design stage to being in showrooms.

At the time of the government’s announcement, the Motor Industry Association (MIA) described the 2025 targets as “the most aggressive and severe in the world”.

Chief executive David Crawford, and other representatives from the automotive industry, have called for the target date to be pushed back to 2030.