Prices to rise due to targets
Average greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from new vehicles sold last year decreased by 4.7 per cent when compared to 2020.
It was the largest annual reduction recorded by the Motor Industry Association (MIA) since it started collecting data in 2006.
Much of the decline can be attributed to 25,194 of the new vehicles sold in New Zealand in 2021 being powered by some form of electrification. That was a 94 per cent increase on the previous year when 12,997 were registered.
“New Zealand distributors are working closely with their parent companies to transition as fast as we can to a more fuel-efficient fleet,” says David Crawford, chief executive of the MIA.
“However, the transition is nowhere fast enough to avoid the government’s looming clean car standard penalties from 2023 onwards.”
While the accelerating rate in the reduction of GHG emissions from the new-vehicle fleet is “pleasing”, it signals to the government the severity of targets and resulting penalties contained in the Land Transport (Clean Vehicles) Amendment Bill.
Crawford, pictured, adds: “For our sector to reach the proposed 2025 target, we needed to have reduced our average emissions by 10 per cent in 2021, not 4.7 per cent.”
He says New Zealand is already falling behind the rate needed to reach the government’s goals despite the massive increase in sales of new low-emissions vehicles last year.
“Failing to meet the targets means prices for vehicles will increase to offset penalties faced by new-vehicle importers”.
With the bill coming back to the parliament for its second and third readings, the MIA is urging Michael Wood, Minister of Transport, to review the targets “so they remain challenging, but not crippling”.
