EVs only for the rich

In the first month since the introduction of the Clean Car Discount, sales of SUVs and double cab utes rise strongly and NEV share falls. And those buying electrics are doing so at the luxury end

2nd Jul 21, 4:44pm by David Chaston

Ford Ranger Raptor

Sales of up-market cars is the feature of June new car sales. 75%+ of transactions were for SUVs, and most of the EVs being sold are to very well-heeled buyers. This category is still a fad for the rich.

As has been the case for the year to date, the overall new vehicle market continues to be logistically challenging with worldwide shipping capacity is still a long way off pre-COVID levels and manufacturers are still grappling with a worldwide shortage of semi-conductor chips.

Within these constraints the New Zealand market, year to date, continues to perform exceptionally well.

June 2021 registrations were 15,135 units compared to 11,514 units for June 2020 and 13,952 in June 2019. The month of June is the third largest on record and the first six months of 2021 is the strongest on record.

The introduction of the Government's Clean Car Discount saw a slight reduction in the sale of PHEVs but BEV sales were reasonably strong. Hybrid sales are not yet eligible for a rebate and these remain strong. Year to date there are 1,641 BEVs registered, compared to the same period last year there were only 611 BEVs registered. (BEVs are pure battery-only electric vehicles. PHEVs are plug-in hybrids. Hybrids get their battery power from an on-board ICE engine.)

There were 342 pure electric vehicles, 222 of them Teslas, and another 69 were Mercedes, Porsches, Jaguars, Audis, MGs and Minis.) 52 PHEV’s and 1,113 hybrid vehicles were also sold in June, a total of 1507 new energy vehicle (NEVs) and a share of 14.6%. This is less than the 16% share in May.

Sales of commercial vehicles are still dominated by double-car utes. Of the 4829 sales in June, 85% of them were these double-cab utes or pickup trucks. Many (most?) would have been diesels.

New vehicles sold

Select chart tabs

Source: NZTA

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100 Comments

by SimonP | 2nd Jul 21, 5:13pm 1625202786

Well-healed EV buyers? Have they been injured? :-)
When does the rebate/tariff kick in? Are people rushing to buy double-cab diesel utes before the tariff kicks in? That would be a major unintended consequence / perverse incentive.

by Lanthanide | 2nd Jul 21, 5:24pm 1625203463

The tariff kicks in from 1st January 2022.

by David Chaston | 2nd Jul 21, 6:14pm 1625206485

Fixed. Thanks.

by Burni | 2nd Jul 21, 5:17pm 1625203025

As usual the poor bear the brunt of Labours climate policies. No problem they won't be able to afford a car so can use the amazing public transport system.

by Uninterested | 2nd Jul 21, 7:05pm 1625209533

I am interested at what age these brand new BEVs are on-sold. ie How long do people hang onto them before offloading them to unsuspecting buyers when the batteries have lost a good amount of charging ability. Juice them up then sell them to the naive.
At least with a petrol car you can see if it smokes, oil in water, water drops after test drive, engine overheats, condition of oil etc. You can even do a compression test if the seller has confidence in his car. A juiced battery? Well maybe some day there will be a way of identifying this rort.

by Brutus Iscariot | 2nd Jul 21, 8:53pm 1625216038

That's quite funny, because all you've done is highlight all the extra things that can go wrong with ICE vehicles.

by Pietro | 3rd Jul 21, 7:20am 1625253639

You can most things an ICE relatively cheaply. No so if you have to replace a battery pack. It’s goodbye car!

by Sentinel | 3rd Jul 21, 7:44am 1625255055

Most EVs come with a pretty lengthy battery warranty. BMW and Tesla for instance come with 8 year battery warranties.
So long as you stay away from old Nissan Leafs you’ll be fine.

by Whatwillhappen | 5th Jul 21, 12:43pm 1625445805

Is the warranty transferable?

by Pragmatist | 3rd Jul 21, 8:28am 1625257703

Really? Just say the words mechatronics unit around an Audi/Volkswagen owner and watch them wince.

by Clefton Twain | 5th Jul 21, 7:55am 1625428550

As long as you know what you're doing it is far easier to change batteries, or individual cells or packs in an electric car. Think how long a mechanics apprenticeship takes and the tooling and diagnostic equipment required. Most mechanics these days won't even rebuild a top or bottom end, they'll just buy a new one and bolt it on. Ever bought a new engine for a car?

by Uninterested | 3rd Jul 21, 7:43am 1625254990

Of course my message is that its easier to tell if you are buying a dud...

by Clefton Twain | 5th Jul 21, 7:56am 1625428610

You run a health check on the battery, very easy relatively.

by Whatwillhappen | 5th Jul 21, 12:44pm 1625445882

Google 'juicing'

by Jake Wiltshire | 3rd Jul 21, 6:42am 1625251327

Introducing: The Walking Bus

by solardb | 3rd Jul 21, 4:50pm 1625287841

the "poor' can buy a s/h Leaf , or a Prius ( most clocking up 400ks plus on the first battery , ask any Taxi Driver) , or any economical small petrol car. Where they have failed , i think , is getting the old gas guzzlers off the road. Plenty of "poor"people in our neighbour hood driving old commodores etc. The aim should be to up the fuel efficency of the whole fleet , not just those that can afford new cars .

by solardb | 3rd Jul 21, 4:50pm 1625287841

by Pragmatist | 3rd Jul 21, 7:56pm 1625298997

It will trickle down, those falcons and commodores were once new cars.

by solardb | 3rd Jul 21, 4:50pm 1625287841

by realterms | 2nd Jul 21, 5:20pm 1625203228

Clearly this is the rather odd month between the announcement and when it kicks in. People trying get their utes and suvs in before, and why buy a subsidy-eligible ev just before? So of course it's heavy on utes, suvs, and high end EVs. Too early to draw conclusions yet.

by Lanthanide | 2nd Jul 21, 5:25pm 1625203539

The tariff doesn't apply for another 6 months yet.

by Burni | 2nd Jul 21, 7:05pm 1625209508

Delays on many vehicles. Usually longer on Hikux and Ranger

by Uninterested | 2nd Jul 21, 7:07pm 1625209631

The EV subsidy is already in place. If I was going to buy one I'd do it now, before they put up the base prices to counterbalance this subsidy.

by Clefton Twain | 5th Jul 21, 7:58am 1625428701

Exactly, we picked up an MG EV on Saturday - had to wait until the 1st of July to register it in order to receive the rebate.

by Clefton Twain | 5th Jul 21, 7:59am 1625428774

I should also point out at 40k after the rebate and very low running costs I wouldn't consider it a purchase reserved for the wealthy. Not for the poor obviously but were they ever in the market for a new car?

by Clefton Twain | 5th Jul 21, 8:01am 1625428916

I should also also point out that maybe low interest loans on new cheap EVs would be a good idea in return for taking gas guzzlers off the road?
The operating costs make some EVs better value but if you don't have a house to borrow against the finance costs could be pretty onerous.

by Lanthanide | 2nd Jul 21, 5:25pm 1625203511

Wait for the July sales figures, since the rebate only applies to cars registered after 1st July.

My sister took delivery of a Tesla Model 3 last week, and ended up missing out on the rebate because the car was registered (by Telsa) back in May before the details of the scheme were announced. She says that Tesla looked into doing everything they could to claim the rebate, including using a provision that allows a car to be un-registered within 28 days of registration so that it could be re-registered on 1st July, but government officials put the kibosh on that.

by Uninterested | 2nd Jul 21, 7:08pm 1625209693

Thats a useful post Thankyou.

by CWBW | 2nd Jul 21, 5:31pm 1625203888

Wonderful. More people taking bus and less cars on the road. At least I'm expecting less bass while waiting at the lights.

by Pietro | 2nd Jul 21, 5:45pm 1625204708

The thing a lot of folk miss is just how much fun EVs are. A mate of mine is rueing that his neighbour’s Tesla Model 3 is faster to 100 than his Aston Martin! Some top end EVs can get to 100kph in under two seconds. Not sure if this is the sort of thing Mr Shaw envisaged — we’ll need roads like runways! There won’t ever be fewer cars, just better ones.

by Uninterested | 2nd Jul 21, 7:13pm 1625210016

Having good acceleration is safer in many situations. Overtaking can be done quicker with a lower top speed during it.
i have a car which handles very well but is gutless so overtaking is really difficult especially when people speed up when I indicate to overtake.... as they do.
Or my bugbear. Slow vehicle lanes. Which very very few slow vehicles use.

by Burni | 2nd Jul 21, 9:57pm 1625219872

EV's great if you see a politician on a pedestrian crossing then.

by DaveB1978 | 4th Jul 21, 7:18pm 1625383127

EV’s are superior in virtually every way except the price tag and the recharge time (if you get one with decent range it isn’t such an issue). It is just the fact that everyone can’t afford to spend $60k + to get one.

by WellingtonInvestor | 2nd Jul 21, 5:48pm 1625204888

I used to have a diesel ute and it was cheaper to run and seemed to use less fuel per km than my normal petrol car. I thought modern diesel engines were relatively good these days. YOu can also get petrol utes which probably similar fuel usage to medium sized SUVs. But one problem is that utes have gotten a lot larger and higher over the last 10-15 years.

by Carlos67 | 2nd Jul 21, 6:01pm 1625205667

And there you have the reason these things are just crazy, just looked up the spec of the Ford Raptor its weight is 2332Kg so besides being as aerodynamic as a brick it weights as much as a few pallet loads of them. Its simply not possible to produce a low emissions and economical vehicle with this kind of spec.

by youngdumbandbroke | 2nd Jul 21, 6:26pm 1625207214

Dumbest comment I’ve seen in a while. Have you even looked at the economy and emissions figures of a raptor? Modern diesels are becoming more efficient, not less.

by JimboJones | 2nd Jul 21, 6:40pm 1625208018

I think the point is they would be even better if they weighed half as much and were aerodynamic (i.e. not a mostly unnecessary massive ute).
Modern small cars run off a barely oily rag these days.

by youngdumbandbroke | 2nd Jul 21, 8:16pm 1625213785

Yea they would be if they weighed less but then that also means they can tow or carry less. Also, “necessary” is subjective. Love it when Wellington public servants rant on how all anyone needs is a leaf while they sip their soy latte made from African coffee beans shipped halfway round the world lol

by Burni | 2nd Jul 21, 10:02pm 1625220120

I'm waiting to see what will tow my 3 tonne caravan. Who needs a boat in Auckland where there'll be nowhere to fish.

No problem Nashy only wants high end tourists.

by solardb | 3rd Jul 21, 4:53pm 1625287992

go for a Ssangyong, rexton , or rhino .Or wait for their ne model , voted ute of the year in Britain .

by solardb | 3rd Jul 21, 4:53pm 1625287992

go for a Ssangyong, rexton , or rhino .Or wait for their ne model , voted ute of the year in Britain .

by solardb | 3rd Jul 21, 4:53pm 1625287992

go for a Ssangyong, rexton , or rhino .Or wait for their ne model , voted ute of the year in Britain .

by Spiceeh | 2nd Jul 21, 10:19pm 1625221157

Hey, guess what?! Did you New Zealand grows both Coffee and Cacao Beans locally? Amazing right?! Latte sipping agricultural technologists to the rescue!

by youngdumbandbroke | 3rd Jul 21, 9:38am 1625261907

Well that’s nice to know that all coffee is locally grown. Otherwise the Prius warriors would be hypocrites right?

by mfd | 3rd Jul 21, 10:00am 1625263210

How many coffees makes up the difference between the footprint of a small leaf vs a large diesel SUV? I'm a little rusty on the conversion rates.

Unless your argument is that to even consider criticising inefficient cars, one should exist purely on food from their own garden and wear clothes woven from their own hair? Very hard to live an entirely virtuous life in today's society.

by youngdumbandbroke | 3rd Jul 21, 10:52am 1625266374

My issue is that EVs are not yet able to replace ICE ones, yet those wealthy office folk continue to lambast anyone not driving a Prius or Tesla.

by Uninterested | 3rd Jul 21, 7:47am 1625255253

This brings up the other issue: the size of boats! The number of boats around with 150hp engines on them. Ridiculous!
40 yrs ago my fathers seacraft with a 50 on the back was absolutely fine for fishing. A cortina would tow that fine.

by youngdumbandbroke | 3rd Jul 21, 9:39am 1625261967

More people = more consumption means that people have to travel further to catch anything. It’s a population problem, not a tech one

by JimboJones | 3rd Jul 21, 8:41am 1625258496

If it’s necessary then pay the price. Lots of things I do are necessary, I don’t expect them to be subsidised. Trashing the planet for free is pretty much the biggest subsidy anyone can get.

by youngdumbandbroke | 3rd Jul 21, 9:35am 1625261714

Electric vehicles won’t save the planet. Less consumption might, however I suspect we’ve already over populated the planet

by Robert M | 5th Jul 21, 1:29pm 1625448546

I looked them up just now, 8.2l/100km and emissions of 212 gCo2/km. Such a beast will definitely attract a levy from next year, even if the separate emissions target for utes remains. Also saw that the Raptor costs $85,490 + orc. What was that about well-heeled EV buyers again?

by Squishy | 3rd Jul 21, 6:16am 1625249795

The issue I see is that most electric pickup trucks are made for the US market, unless government waives the rules on left hand drive cars consumers won't be left with any options in this bracket. It's our fault, we didn't signal early enough to the auto industry that we intended to apply taxes/rebates based on emissions.

by Sluggy | 4th Jul 21, 9:00am 1625346031

Wow, I have an early 60's Chev truck, it weighs 2 tonne, and it has steel in it. I have a very late model engine in it, 12l/100ks on the open road.

by JimboJones | 2nd Jul 21, 6:37pm 1625207857

Not sure why the right wingers are wishing this scheme fails. If it does fail we either need to forget about doing our part towards climate change altogether (which I believe would have long term ramifications including economic ones) or do something even more drastic such as bans, taxes, reallocating road space, carless days, etc.

by muzled | 2nd Jul 21, 8:12pm 1625213555

Sounds great!

Maybe we could do that as well.

by Burni | 2nd Jul 21, 10:08pm 1625220485

Not sure how these IPCC levies are doing our bit. They just remove the funds to help. So it's a double whammy. Not only do we fire billions to IPCC we then have to find the funds ourselves so the impact is increased.

by Pietro | 3rd Jul 21, 7:25am 1625253958

I’m not a right winger, but the scheme seems like it is giving money to the rich, and taking it from hard working trades and rural folk. The difference it will make to our share of global emissions will be diddly squat. Too many subsidies in this country go to people who don’t need them.

by JimboJones | 3rd Jul 21, 8:46am 1625258781

Where have you been: hard working trades are rich! I’ve had a few quotes recently and seemed like they must be bringing in a very good pay cheque per year, 200k + easily. I would consider myself fairly well off and I have never bought a new car in my life so they much richer than me. And remember that much cheaper small cars are also getting the feebate, not just electric.

by youngdumbandbroke | 3rd Jul 21, 2:18pm 1625278703

Haha “seemed like”. Seems like you don’t know the market value of a skilled tradesman + materials

by DaveB1978 | 4th Jul 21, 7:25pm 1625383555

It is a bit different when it is a work vehicle. I double they are earning $200k + unless they are employing people in which case they are businesses. My issue with the scheme is that there aren’t any real alternatives for utes etc

by kiwimm | 5th Jul 21, 3:26pm 1625455608

Utes exist that do not attract a fee, they are just not sold in NZ due to our lack of emission standards e.g. Ford Ranger EcoBlue double cab sold in the UK is 188gCO2/km, under the 192g threshold for a fee.

by Squishy | 2nd Jul 21, 6:46pm 1625208409

Subsidies for the wealthy, taxes for the poor. Just the way nature intended.

by Burni | 2nd Jul 21, 7:07pm 1625209638

No just Labour

by Uninterested | 3rd Jul 21, 7:51am 1625255496

Taxes for the poor? Huh? Who? When?
You know what will happen with the upcoming congestion charges. Just wait..... A massive carve out for who the govt deems to be the "poor".

by JimboJones | 2nd Jul 21, 7:29pm 1625210958

You know all those poor buying brand new rangers, gotta feel sorry for them.

by Brutus Iscariot | 2nd Jul 21, 8:56pm 1625216179

Poor people aren't buying brand new Ford Raptors. More like taxes for the chavs

by SimonP | 2nd Jul 21, 7:38pm 1625211491

Lots of complaint for what is really a minor price signal which won't drive much change in behaviour. Massive structural economic changes are required for NZ to meet it's Paris Agreement obligations and Net Carbon Zero by 2050. The howls of outrage will be enormous. Add in changes to water policy, the RMA, definition of Significant Natural Areas, and there is going to be a lot of protest.

by JimboJones | 3rd Jul 21, 8:47am 1625258847

Lots of entitled people unfortunately.

by K.W. | 2nd Jul 21, 8:54pm 1625216052

EVs are going to be for the rich for a very long time, as the manufacturers have zero incentive to lower the prices while Govts around the world are heavily subsidising them. In Europe the subsidy is EU15k-20k per vehicle. Our measly $8k will do nothing to make these cars affordable to the average buyer. And even if there were no subsidies, the manufacturers just have to wait until the ICE bans kick in, then consumers will have no choice at all, so the car companies will milk it as long as they can, before genuine competition for market share starts to provide an incentive to bring costs down.

by Burni | 2nd Jul 21, 10:04pm 1625220284

EVs will only be for city dwellers. The nationwide charging infrastructure is non existent so you can't get far at present.

by Pragmatist | 3rd Jul 21, 8:42am 1625258575

What a load of rot, one look at the maps on charge.net and you'll see most of the places people travel have charging pretty well covered, so long as you aren't talking about travelling intercity in a old nissan leaf with dying batteries. A few places like east cape and the far north could do with a few extra chargers.

by Burni | 3rd Jul 21, 8:51am 1625259117

Wait until the numbers increase. So will the massive queues to charge

by mfd | 3rd Jul 21, 9:47am 1625262467

And so will the number of chargers. It would be a stunning failure both of the market and of government if a large imbalance developed.

by Podcast | 3rd Jul 21, 8:53am 1625259218

I agree that the Leaf (and other early/cheap EV's) range make them ideal inner city commuter vehicle, but your comment about charging infrastructure is incorrect. You only have to look at the Charge.net map (https://charge.net.nz/map/) to see how wrong you are!
I don't live in the city, my daily commute was 120km and I did it for 5 years in a $37k EV only charging at home overnight. Saved many thousands over that time, even if I have to buy another battery in a couple of years, I'm still ahead financially when compared to using the previous Ute over same period.

by Whatwillhappen | 5th Jul 21, 12:51pm 1625446292

Depreciate that battery!

by house hunter | 3rd Jul 21, 7:31am 1625254276

EVs will get cheaper as the tech improves. Then new companies will enter the market, as well as traditional car makers focusing more on EVs.

For now the EV subsidy in NZ will mainly benefit people in the mid to high wealth brackets. That's OK because the more important long term benefit will be creation of charging infrastructure.

by Uninterested | 3rd Jul 21, 7:54am 1625255673

Most people buying them will also have a big diesel SUV in the garage.
And, they will charge them at home 95% of the time.

by Burni | 3rd Jul 21, 8:54am 1625259252

Will they get cheaper as the cost of extraction and demand increases. How much Li and Co do we need to replace the world's ICE fleet.

Oh thats right, the poor don't need cars

by Robert M | 5th Jul 21, 1:35pm 1625448903

I'm not sure that's how economics work. I looked up the equivalent rebates in some other countries: UK £2,500, France €6,000, Germany €9K, Ireland €5K, Sweden SEK60K = NZD10K. Some countries have other incentives as well but overall it's the fuel efficiency standards that do most of the work and I expect that's what we will see in NZ too if we get the setting right.

by Zachary Smith | 3rd Jul 21, 7:57am 1625255867

It's funny that MG is listed there along with Mercedes and Porsche as a high end car. MG is now a Chinese auto maker. That said I did look up their EV offering, the MG ZS EV and watched a couple of videos. It actually looks quite good and good value.

This pdf of theirs claims an $8,625 rebate on the 50k price:
https://files.digitaldealer.com.au/mgmotor/specifications/zsev.pdf

Do rebates apply to PHEV vehicles? Because they seem more appealing to me, never having to worry about running out of charge. MG do one of those too although the Mitsubishi may have better resell value for the same price.

by D581 | 5th Jul 21, 9:35am 1625434540

Yes PHEVs are covered along with low emitting ICEs like the Honda Jazz I believe. Although with the Outlander I've seen a bit of talk about the batteries on the earlier ones degrading and having very high replacement costs. Gotta do something about recycling/repurposing batteries - repurposing batteries that are depleted but still hold a bit of charge are useful to distribution networks apparently for load shifting

by Whatwillhappen | 5th Jul 21, 12:53pm 1625446390

I've never seen answered the question of how CVTs in hybrids handle towing. The serious reviewers do not recommend towing with a CVT, so it's either pure EV or ICE

by Hardly | 3rd Jul 21, 10:13am 1625264022

I object to the headline on the front page ‘…only for the rich.’

First of all, one of the purposes of the policy is to reduce carbon emissions. This occurs regardless of who is owning the vehicle and benefits everyone.

Second, the other purpose of the policy is to drive scale leading to mass affordability. I’m sure there was a point where microwaves were only for the rich. We need rich people to buy overpriced niche products to move things through the early adopter stage and help achieve scale and production efficiency. Some rich dude buying a $150,000 EV is doing you a favour whether you like it or not. You’ll never get the $50,000 EV without that $150,000 EV. Tesla is proof of that in action.

So let’s give the class warfare side of this a rest. EVs are great and one day there will be an Everymans EV (arguably the MG one is already there are $40k after the subsidy).

by youngdumbandbroke | 3rd Jul 21, 10:24pm 1625307883

So what I’m reading from this comment is stop being poor and thank a rich person that they can afford an EV on our behalf. Nice one

by Hardly | 4th Jul 21, 7:59am 1625342391

That’s actually exactly what I’m saying. Because the goal was for someone to buy an EV and emit less carbon. It doesn’t matter who buys it for the policy to be successful.

by GV 27 | 5th Jul 21, 10:39am 1625438385

Awesome. Sounds like we should be restricting it to people who live outside the central suburbs and who don't have access to rapid transit then.

by Whatwillhappen | 5th Jul 21, 12:58pm 1625446692

That's a problem though because the average 'rich' person will be trading in a low emitting, efficient-for-its-size ICE whereas the poor people will be keeping their high emitting, inefficient-for-its-size older car, so the effect is less than it first appears on paper

by Robert M | 5th Jul 21, 1:38pm 1625449132

There are over a million cars bought in NZ every year and we have the highest rate of vehicle ownership in the OECD. This affects everyone, vehicle emissions are a collective issue. The benefits of fewer ICE sales are shared by everyone, especially by growing the base of support for ending fossil fuels.

by kiwimm | 5th Jul 21, 3:31pm 1625455909

What happens to these trade in cars? Do they disappear to the same place as rental houses when sold?

by ex agent | 3rd Jul 21, 1:51pm 1625277105

I have just bought a European hybrid as I am not ready for a bev car. The importer gave me a pretty big discount including the equivalent of the governments $5750 rebate. It is the best car I have ever had. Quiet , smooth and very quick even on just electric. Charging it every night in the garage on a three pin plug is as easy as charging the phone. The next day I have 40-50 ks depending on the temperature. I do 20 to 30 ks a day so it suits me. Electric only unless going out of town and then it’s hybrid. I have had some nice powerful European cars but this hybrid is smoother and quieter than all them and surprisingly quick when you need it. Go and have a test drive. Any hybrid on the market will blow you away.

by solardb | 3rd Jul 21, 4:57pm 1625288223

I don't think I've ever met anyone thats owned a hybrid , that wouldn't buy another one .

by solardb | 3rd Jul 21, 4:57pm 1625288223

I don't think I've ever met anyone thats owned a hybrid , that wouldn't buy another one .

by solardb | 3rd Jul 21, 4:57pm 1625288255

I seem to have developed a stutter

by Henry_Tull | 3rd Jul 21, 7:25pm 1625297124

And like magic this Government policy is raising the price of all cars.

The tax on Ford Ranger starting Jan 1 will increase in cost to purchase.
Already Japanese exporters of EVs have increased the price of cars into the NZ market increasing their cost of purchase in NZ.

... EV dealerships in Auckland are witnessing a surge in demand, but are also sounding warnings about limited stock sending prices skyward.

..... Johnston also imports EVs from Japan, and he said he believes sellers in Japan are increasing the prices of their EVs in response to the subsidy.

https://i.stuff.co.nz/motoring/evs/300335451/mad-rush-as-ev-sales-surge…

The funniest thing would be for Ford to offer NZ discounts to trade customers. Or people start grey imports & used ex lease imports...
Imagine that. This policy would then effectively raise the price of EVs and reduce the price of Rangers (because there is great demand for them).

by Lanthanide | 4th Jul 21, 8:14am 1625343261

Even if the exporters raised the price to fully offset the subsidy, it means they would have an incentive to sell the cars to NZ instead of elsewhere if they can get a higher price for them.

When you consider that many other countries already have subsidies of some sort, this would be more of a re-levelling than anything - like with the movie business, if you don't give a tax incentive to film in your country then movies simply don't get made there, because everyone else is giving a tax incentive.

When you consider that very few brand new EVs have been available to buy in NZ except for the last 18 months - Nissan never sold the gen 1 or 2 leafs here - it suggests that our lack of subsidy until now likely suppressed the interest of the car makers in selling here.

by Henry_Tull | 4th Jul 21, 12:53pm 1625360016

Interesting view in the economics of selling EVs into NZ, and making an additional case for all EV cars to be sold at a higher cost to New Zealanders.

by Lanthanide | 4th Jul 21, 1:36pm 1625362581

I'm not defending it as a good thing or saying it should be this way, just that this is how it is. Just like movies tax credits are a rort, the fact is if you don't give them, you don't get movies made in your country.

by Sluggy | 4th Jul 21, 9:08am 1625346504

All the waffle about emissions and cars. Why the govt isnt upping rail infrastructure and getting trucks off the road is beyond me. Has there been any study around this ? Diesel emissions arent exactly healthy.

by Henry_Tull | 4th Jul 21, 12:49pm 1625359740

Especially as transport is within the ets.
Doubleup.

by solardb | 4th Jul 21, 5:11pm 1625375516

The last budget had major spending for rail . Seems to be a constraint on how quickly they can improve things.
Rail is around 4 times more energy efficient than road .