Travel to countries in Europe or parts of Asia, especially Japan, and it’s a fair bet that any car model you can’t recognise will be one that ends up on New Zealand roads in 10 years’ time.
According to NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi data from last year, we still have one of the oldest car fleets in the developed world. Our cars are, on average, about 14.8 years old, putting us a long way behind Australia, which has an average fleet age of about 10.4 years, and the United Kingdom’s average of 8.5 years old.
In fact, it’s not that unusual to see cars from late last century puttering along through the traffic here. Overseas visitors often comment about a blast from the past from seeing cars made as far back as the ’70s and ’80s.
The consequences of running so many older cars are particularly obvious, and dire, when it comes to the environment. Engines from decades long past are far less fuel-efficient and generate much higher emissions compared to those in more recently made cars.
But the government was less convinced. It scrapped the Clean Car Discount scheme of up to $8625 in December 2023, saying it was costing too much and that it penalised farmers and tradies who might not have alternatives available to replace their utes.
That move kneecapped the rise in light EVs and latest figures show about 116,000 on the road. The government then also brought in road-user charges for EVs in April 2024.
Its latest desires to dirty-up our vehicle fleet were announced just this week. The government might be about to ditch holus-bolus the Clean Vehicle Standard, aimed at encouraging the purchase of low and zero-emission vehicles. If ever there were any doubts left about their views on emissions and the environment, those must have been dashed now.
The proposal follows its kneecapping of the standard in November. Then, vehicle importers benefited from significant drops in how much they were charged for cars exceeding the target emissions level, with imported new cars attracting a new cost of $15 per gram of carbon dioxide rather than the existing $67.50 and used import charges falling from $33.75 per gram of CO2 to just $7.50.
At the time, Transport Minister Chris Bishop said the changes would save car buyers hundreds or thousands of dollars.
While the Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association was delighted, saying members had been going to the wall over the charges, Drive Electric chairwoman Kirsten Corson called the move ‘‘embarrassing’’ and warned New Zealand would become a ‘‘dumping ground for high-emission vehicles’’.
Now RNZ has found that the first stage of a review under way is considering whether Cabinet should retain or abolish the standard entirely. The public were not asked for their views, but the motor-vehicle industry, international organisations, government agencies, advocates and experts were.
Mr Bishop says it is possible the public may still get a chance to have their say. If the law were to be changed, he expects there to be a select committee process.
The Motor Industry Association told RNZ it wanted the standard kept, with the proviso the emissions levels were ‘‘recalibrated’’ to reflect affordability in a small, import-dependent market.
Corson cautioned that changes here were due to ‘‘spectacular lobbying’’ by some high-emissions vehicle importers and she didn’t want to see New Zealand sold ‘‘high-emitting leftovers’’ from Australia.
These moves appear to be further examples of the clawbacks we have seen from this government. Unless you have actively been lobbied hard by a sector or industry, why would you roll back things which actually improve life for most people?
By doing so, the government shows it is far more in the thrall of private interests than caring for the nation’s future.
