Toyota NZ chief executive Neeraj Lala has hit back at Labour and Green Party ministers for meddling in the market rather than allowing companies to focus on reducing the impact of tailpipe emissions, according to a Newsroom article today.
He’ll be asking that National – if it’s elected – make its changes to the clean car discount immediately, rather than providing several months warning for buyers and sellers to game the system.
He and Ford NZ chief executive Simon Rutherford will meet today with National’s transport spokesperson Simeon Brown. Lala thinks the clean car discount has disrupted sales, especially for commercial vehicles – though he warns that ending it, as National plans, will be equally problematic unless it’s done quickly and cleanly, reports Newsroom.
It’s looking inevitable that we’ll have a change of government come October. With one month until the general election, all major polls have been showing a clear rightward trend since June.
The latest 1News-Verian poll shows National and ACT having the numbers to form a government. In fact, all polls now have National and ACT ahead.
National and ACT have both pledged to scrap the Clean Car Discount scheme. They argue the discounts unfairly subsidise luxury EVs and penalise tradies buying utes and vans.
>>> Click here to visit our EVs & Hybrids page
What it means for you
If you are even remotely thinking about an EV or PHEV, there’s no room for iffy thinking. It’s time to bring your decision forward.
Here’s what we are currently seeing…
Most people can sense which way the political winds are blowing, and those who have been thinking about getting into an EV or PHEV have realised the Clean Car Discounts are about to end.
The early birds are catching the worm, so to speak, and EV stocks are currently being depleted. People who leave it too late will either have to make do with their second or third choice of options, or even model, or will miss out completely.
One thing some people don’t realise is that the discount applies from the date the vehicle is registered, not the date you decide to buy it, or sign on the dotted line, or pay a deposit.
If the Clean Car Discounts end on 31 December as National has previously pledged, or in October as Toyota and Ford are pushing for, you have to work backwards from that date to when you must place your order for it to arrive in time to be registered before the cutoff date.
Get that calculation wrong and your vehicle might be on the water or in a port awaiting clearance on the cutoff date, in which case you’re committed to buying the vehicle but have missed the boat on the discount.
And because others have realised what’s happening and have acted more quickly, you’ll be left with the dregs. Or even worse, miss out altogether.
“I urge you not to miss the narrow window of opportunity that is rapidly closing for your EV or PHEV decision,” says Driveline CEO Lance Manins.
>>> Click here to visit our EVs & Hybrids page
BYD Atto 3 EVGet into a brand new BYD Atto 3 Standard Range at a super discounted monthly rate before the Clean Car Discount is scrapped!
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