The emission standards debate

The Weekend Herald has a good in depth story covering the pros and cons of the Government’s proposed restrictions on imported cars. This is the issue that the IMDVA is running a $300,000 campaign on.

Now before people conclude that hey if the Government is for it and car dealers are against it – it must be good – you should read the article, and see how not only NZIER, but Covec – the agency hired by the Government, have both said this will actually lead to increased pollution, as people will retain their cars for longer, as the cost of replacement will be too high.

What the Government wants is to clean up our air – quoting research that estimates about 500 premature deaths a year are caused by vehicle pollution. But many are questioning whether this blunt instrument – banning the import of vehicles not built to certain exhaust emission standards – is going to do the job. Some, including the Ministry of Transport’s commissioned researchers, say the ban could mean people hang on to their old vehicles for longer causing more, not less pollution. It sounds crazy.

He points out a 1997, 1.5 tonne truck bought by a builder for $15,000. Under the new rule the equivalent truck will cost about $28,000, making trade-up an expensive option. “What will happen is at 500,000km that truck will get overhauled and do another 300,000km instead of getting dumped.”

So is it a good policy if it may even make air pollution worse, and imposes extra costs on consumers?