The New Zealand governments mandated emissions standard which came into force on April 1, drove record registrations of new vehicles and imported used vehicles as buyers and dealers raced to meet the March 31 deadline to avoid paying Clean Car fees.
More than 21,000 new vehicles and more than 24,000 imported used vehicles were registered in New Zealand in March 2022. The highest amount yet recorded.
The Motor Industry Association of New Zealand represents the new vehicle industry, and its chief executive David Crawford says business buyers account for 60% of new car registrations and he believes many fleet purchases have been brought forward because of the Clean Car Standard commencing at the start of the country’s new financial year.
Crawford says the last time the market saw such a previous high for new vehicle registrations was in September 1986 before the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) on October 1 of that year.
From April 1, 2022, new vehicle and freshly imported used vehicles which emit more than 192gm of C02 per kilometre will pay a fee of $50.00 per gm over the mandated limit up to a maximum of $5250 under the New Zealand Governments Clean Car Standard.
Many large passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles will be subject to a fee.
Any vehicle with emissions between 146gm and 192gm is in the neutral band and any ICE or Hybrid vehicle under 146gm will qualify for a Clean Car rebate. Battery Electric Vehicles and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles each receive a standard set rebate amount for new or used imported cars.
Crawford says the disruption is not over. Even as dealerships wake up following a late night registering and delivering vehicles that attract the Clean Car fee, customers that waited to take delivery of their hybrids and EVs will be waiting at the doors of the showroom.
“Given that for new vehicles around 60% of sales are to business, we think many will have brought forward their purchases, and are expecting a few lean months in the commercial space,” Crawford says.
“We are, however, expecting passenger cars to leap forward, with hybrids, and some ICE vehicles, now eligible for a rebate.”
Crawford says the Clean Car process has been stressful on people in the distributor and dealer segments alike.
“It has been a stressful time for distributors and dealers just trying to deal with all the regulatory requirements around this.,” he says.
“Plus, we have had production issues due to COVID and the war in Ukraine; and we have had logistics issues.
“It didn’t help that the fuel economy labels came very late in the piece, and it didn’t help that there were changes to the fees in early March – it didn’t give the sector much time to prepare,” he says.
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