Marque makes standards plea

Polestar is urging the Australian federal government to stick with its targets under the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) despite calls for possible revisions by the automotive industry’s peak body.

The electric vehicle maker has spoken out after comments from Tony Weber, chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), suggesting the NVES should be revised after battery electric vehicles have lost market share.

New-vehicle registration figures for last month show BEVs accounted for 5.9 per cent of the Australian market, down from 9.6 per cent in the same month a year ago.

Scott Maynard, head of Polestar Australia, says efforts to undermine the NVES, which came into force at the start of the year, will disadvantage Australians.

“[The] comments from the FCAI are the latest in a campaign to water down long-overdue emissions standards that will deliver Australians cleaner cars and lower running costs,” he adds.

“The NVES was developed to lower vehicle emissions by incentivising carmakers to offer more hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric options, and we can clearly see car brands rising to that challenge.

“By the end of the year, Australian new car buyers will have over 100 battery electric vehicles available to them.”

Maynard says more than 85 per cent of global car markets have a fuel efficiency standard in place to deliver better health outcomes and cut ownership costs. “We must stay the course to see these benefits realised in Australia.”

Polestar notes it withdrew from the FCAI in March 2024 because of the latter’s reluctance to support the introduction of emissions regulations for new cars that would align Australia to global standards.