Two official powerhouses are facing off over parallel imports – FCAI chief Tony Weber has slammed ACCC commissioner’s position as confusing to consumers.
Weber, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive, has laid into the head of Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Roger Featherston, adding that comments he’d made at the Australian Auto Aftermarket conference were not aligned with government plans.
“Freeing up laws around importing new cars will provide consumers with greater choice and create new business opportunities in a changing industry,” Featherston said at the Melbourne event.
The government recently touted plans to ease restrictions on consumers importing new vehicles from 2018. The reform allows consumers to personally import vehicles from the UK or Japan with less than 500km mileage. A restriction under the relaxed import rule is that consumers importing more than one vehicle every two years.
“Consumers should be entitled to weigh up all the relevant considerations and decide whether personally importing a car is right for them, or whether sticking to the established system of dealerships suits them better,” Featherston said.
He said claims that consumers may end up with a vehicle that does not meet their needs or operate as required in Australian driving conditions appear far-fetched.
“Consumers will only be able to import cars from the UK and Japan. These are markets that sell right hand drive cars and have similar safety standards to Australia. Also, the climatic conditions in Europe and Japan can be as extreme, if not more extreme, than conditions in Australia.”
Featherstone said choice was the key issue, rather than one of safety or adaptability to Australian conditions.
“With choice comes competition and opportunities for consumers and businesses alike,” he said.
Weber was quick to respond to the ACCC was that it “displays a lack of consistency and technical knowledge in its statements about this issue.”
“And pity the poor consumers out there who are looking to their taxpayer-funded watchdog for any clear advice on this matter.”
“On its own website, the ACCC warns consumers about the perils of parallel imports and how limited protection is offered in these transactions,” he continued.
“Now it has not only back-flipped on this advice but foreshadowed a situation in which businesses can import vehicles – in complete contradiction to the Minister’s stated position.”
“Our market is already one of the most competitive in the world, with over 67 brands and more than 400 models, and this is a significant part of why vehicle affordability in Australia is at its best in 41 years,.
“The ACCC is taking a perplexing and simplistic stance to what is a complex issue laden with massive financial risks and limited protection for consumers who inadvertently make a bad decision.
“The ACCC seems to think that someone can jump on the Net and make an overseas car purchase as easily as picking up a mobile phone, book or handbag,” he noted.
“We doubt the technical expertise of the ACCC to declare that cars engineered and built for other markets are suitable for Australian conditions. After all, we are not talking about a CD.”
He underlined that the automotive industry is working closely with government in striving for world-leading standards and practice on safety, emissions and autonomous vehicle technology.
“How does it make any sense to step backwards based around assertions as these?” he said.
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