17 July 2007
Immediate release

Hyundai backs Government emission moves

Car giant Hyundai has come out in support of Government plans for tougher emissions testing.

Noted for its eco-friendly stance, Hyundai says the Government must hold the line against back-sliders, inside the motor industry and beyond.

The only way to clean up vehicle emissions is to toughen the regulations, principally by importing cleaner cars, says the Executive Director of Hyundai Motors NZ, Philip Eustace.

“That’s what the Government sets out in its new plan, which is still really only a start … we have an awfully long way to go to get the national fleet up to contemporary world standards,” he explains.

“How can we put our hands on our hearts as Kiwis and say we have a clean green country if we don’t all support the proposed new emission rule?

“Why would we spend half a billion dollars in Wellington upgrading the rail system, and implement the 10 cent fuel tax in Auckland to spend two billion dollars on upgrading public transport including electrifying the railway system … yet continue to fill the roads with cheap, dirty cars?” asks Mr. Eustace.

“It defies logic.

“Improve public transport, and get old cars off the road. If that leads to fewer cars on our roads, then we have achieved the objective.”

Under the Government’s new regulations, from 2008 imported used petrol vehicles will have to comply with the 2000 Japanese market standard for emissions, from 2010 the 2005 standard will need to be met, and from 2013 the 2009 Japanese standards will apply.

South Korean colossus Hyundai counts itself among brands building clean, efficient new cars and SUVs, including a broad range of vehicles with the latest, diesel engine technology.

Mr. Eustace says IMVDA, the organisation of used-vehicle importers, has recruited the MTA to support its opposition to the new regulations.

“Of course they don’t want tougher rules, these older cars which are already unwanted in Japan but are then brought into New Zealand have no hope of meeting anything like a modern standard.

“The average age of the New Zealand vehicle fleet is now beyond 12 years, that’s three generations in vehicle evolutionary terms.

“Also we need more modern cars in the fleet to support the Government’s important new biofuel initiatives, where we are moving to cars able to run on ethanol and biodiesel without modification.

“I’m sure the Government understands IMVDA is a secular group, just a part of the motor industry which has taken advantage of a particular set of circumstances to spring up in New Zealand, but which now finds itself staring down the barrel.

“The inevitable wave of progress is already washing over this aberration of modern times, but it is determined to be King Canute and hold back the tide as long as possible.

“The campaign being run by the IMVDA and MTA is based on a very broad hypothesis that when scrutinised is dubious at best, particularly in the light of the exchange rate and the intent of the Japanese government to have a weak currency to promote exports.

“The only way to improve the national fleet is to have quality vehicles entering the country and complying with the most current emission standard.

“The argument that Japanese imports will keep our average fleet age down is bogus because since the arrival of “cheap” Japanese imports the average age has blown out to one of the worst in the western world at 12.1 years.

“New Zealand deserves and needs the tightest possible emission standards,” he says. “We need regulation.

“The Government got this one right, they must hold the line on their new regulation.”

•

ends

© Scoop Media