There is no time to petition Emission Testing at WoF, the Emission Rule comes into effect on December 31st this year and after that, 85% of the vehicles that have come into NZ this year can’t enter.
That 85% are cleaner, safer, lower km cars than most of what’s already on our roads.
(see below for more)
My argument is if we stop such a huge amount of the supply like the Government wants to, then the lower and middle income earners will not be able to afford to upgrade to something in a later year with lower km’s because there will be a lack of supply and what’s already here will become more expensive.
From next year the 15% of cars that can come into the country are going to be priced from $16,000 ~ $25,000,
In Japan if there is a source of much higher km cars that are cheaper, then NZ will try and buy them,
But if the engines have traveled much further it stands to reason, they will be a more polluting car than something which has only traveled say 50,000 Km
There are a few other problems, if there are any higher Km cars available, they will not be so cheap.
There are many other Countries out there also buying from Japan, they are younger markets and have no hesitation in winding back speedos to get a premium sale price, there’s also the issue of supply, Japan has been going through a massive recession and the after math of 2 large natural disasters, supply has been restricted already.
In regards to you comment about introducing a regular emission test at WoF.
I think regular “emission” not performance, testing at time of WOF is a good idea, I’m guessing you didn’t watch Gerald Sharrock’s Interview where he suggests an emissions test once every 2 years?
Anyway the problem is the cost apparently,….but if there were a few designated testing sites throughout the country, then once every 2 years is achievable.
All I’m saying is the policy Labour left us with hasn’t worked so far, in fact it’s had the opposite affect, and if the next phase is implemented, then it will have disastrous effect and actually make the Air Quality in N.Z. worse.
I am all for cleaning up the Air Quality in NZ, so let’s come up with something that works not just willy nilly introduce legislation to gain votes when it not only doesn’t work, but makes things much worse.
We can do better than this, we’re Kiwi’s! With the best “number 8 wire” mentality in the World, surely we can come up with something that will actually work?
Although, all this may be pointless if our fuel quality is substandard and the main cause of poor Air Quality.
The quality of fuel in NZ carries a high concentration of Sulphur and Polly Aromatic Hydro Carbons (not sure of spelling here) which is the biggest pollution issue.
Even new cars with the latest technology will not pass a Euro Standard 4 emissions test using 91 grade fuel.
Recently an entire fleet of brand new cars were recalled to Japan because they could not meet the emission standards while running on NZ fuel, others experienced major mechanical failure which was attributed to the fuel.
If we want to really do something about this, then let’s start at the cause, not try and score points for votes by introducing bad policy’s.
On the 31st of December 2011 the next phase of the emission rule will be implemented by the NZ Government.
The affects will be widespread, and felt for many years. If not stopped, it will increase the cost of living by an average of $4,000 for every person who drives a car or is going to drive a car in New Zealand.
Yes, we will be saying “Goodbye” to cheap, low priced, quality cars in NZ.
The cost of living in NZ is already expensive, and now the stage is set for it to get a lot worse, and for no good reason, because the legislation introduced by the Labour Government doesn’t work!
Make no mistake, “This is the first “un-natural national disaster” to befall NZ following the Christchurch earthquake”.
Due to the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan, the halt of new vehicle productions and the struggling Japanese economy there is now a global shortage of quality second hand vehicles available out of Japan, and as a result, the prices of second hand cars in Japan has greatly increased.
Back in 2007 the Labour Government came up with what they thought were some good ideas to reduce air pollution.
Some of them “were” good ideas, like reducing the level of sulphur in our fuel from over 80 particles down to 8.
But unfortunately this was not realistic. After upgrading the Marsden Point Oil Refinery it was learned the technology being used there had been upgraded as much as it could, and to reduce the levels of sulphur any further to that below 50 particles, (which it had been reduced to) would require the plant to be completely scrapped and rebuilt using the latest technologies.
The NZ Government is a large shareholder in the Marsden Plant, and now they had placed themselves in a position that could potentially be very embarrassing.
The facts on sulphur content in NZ fuels have now been archived on the Government’s web site. Nobody refers to it, so effectively it has been brushed under the carpet, and remains a goal they could not achieve.
And in fact a whole fleet of brand new diesel vehicles could not comply with current emission standards, (because of the low quality diesel fuel they were being tested with in NZ) and were returned to Japan! A whole fleet of brand new cars!!!
And as I understand it the other manufacturers are also having trouble complying!!
Labour targeted many areas in its “Clean Green” campaign, it was a vicious campaign designed to gain green votes with little in the way of proper research being done.
Example:
Remember the “Fart Tax” for livestock?
Farmers (and the public) did their nut over that one, and finally the Labour Government backed down.
Another target was “CARS”!
There are really only 3 car categories in NZ:
• Cars sold new in NZ
• Cars Imported into NZ
• Cars already here.
At the time and from Labour’s stand point, Car manufactures are too important so they can’t rock that boat.
Many cars already here are old and being driven by Labour constituents, they just couldn’t be seen making things harder for “them”.
So that left the import market, “Holy cow!!! The biggest polluters of them all!!!”
The import market is vital to the supply of quality vehicles in New Zealand, and it’s vital to continue this supply so we can remove older polluting and unsafe cars from our roads.
Through trial and era, stringent restrictions have been set in place to protect the consumer and ensure only the very best vehicles make it onto the NZ roads.
And now 85% of that market is about to be removed!.…. 85%!
And this is the reason why.
Air Quality.
That’s it, the quality of air in NZ.
The Labour Government wrapped it up and passed it through as legislation designed to protect the NZ public from harmful emissions produced from nasty vehicles, so they raised the standards of vehicles being imported. Unfortunately, they are about to raise it too high which will place the vehicles meeting the new rules in the $16,000 ~ $25,000 price bracket.
The majority of import car buyers are in the lower to middle income bracket. There is no way they can afford something that is about to double in price!
They will be forced to keep their old cars on the roads, and fix them when they break, supply will dwindle and car prices will become a lot more expensive.
The first phase of the Emission Rule was actually a good idea, it meant NZ could not import vehicles made prior to 1998. The second phase was not so good, we could not import anything prior to a 2000 for petrol vehicles, which was ok, but for diesel vehicles, the rule was much harder and NZ could not import most diesel vehicles manufactured prior to 2004 and in some cases 2005 and 6.
There is now a lack of supply of low km, good quality diesel vehicles and the ones that are here, are more expensive than ever before! Check it out.
The Labour Government wanted to get older cars off our roads, but what it’s done so far is keep the older diesels “ON” our roads. There is nothing to replace them with, and as they become older, not only do they start to produce more emissions but they also became more expensive.
And now the stage is set for the same thing to happen on a much larger scale involving every single car in NZ.
The 31st December 2011 Emission Rule is going to CUT supply by 85% and will not only drive up the prices of old vehicles, but it will also allow the manufactures to raise the price of new cars.
And with prices jumping sky high across the board, the quality of cars on our roads will decrease; they will become even more polluting and in some cases will be “unsafe” as they would have been repaired by unqualified people working as cheaply as they can.
How many people need to die before the consequences of this rule are acknowledged, or will they even be reported?
Will fatal accidents in unsafe cars be reported as just another car “accident” ending in a fatality? or will they report that the victim was actually driving an old vehicle that may have been unsafe prior to the crash?
My guess is that would require an investigation, which would need money and chances are it was a lower income earner in the accident if it was an old car, so we will never know!
National has the power to overturn this legislation and save our cars, our wallets and make our roads safer.
There are better ways to reduce our carbon footprint that actually work!
Like retro fitting fuel lines so they run over the top of an engine head on a diesel engine pre-heating the diesel to 56 Degrees Celsius (diesels optimum and cleanest burning combustion temperature.) similar to that of a common rail diesel engine, currently being sold in new diesel vehicles.
There are components that can be retro fitted to exhausts to reduce emissions.
The Japanese Government required all busses and trucks’ wanting to drive in inner cities to have this fitted, failure to do so, and they would be breaking the Law.
If it worked for Japan, why can’t it work for us?
If the NZ Government was really concerned about the quality of air the average NZ citizen was breathing, they would make it mandatory to have all busses and trucks fit their exhausts so the tail pipe was above the roof line!
How many of us have been stuck in traffic breathing in the fumes of the bus in front? Or suddenly get a blast of fumes through an open window from a passing truck as it changes gear?
I think that would quickly improve the quality of air the average NZ person is inhaling, but it may upset the new vehicle manufactures as it would be an additional cost and disruption to the manufacturing process.
But when you think about it all manufactures should build buses and trucks in this manner, it just makes so much sense! Take a look at the United States of America, they do it!
Or, why not make it mandatory to actually test the emissions of cars already on our roads?
A suggestion has been put forward to do an exhaust emission test of all vehicles on our roads once every 2 years at designated locations. If they fail the emissions test they will require some servicing and perhaps maintenance work and if they fail 3 times they are “Flagged” and taken off the road until they comply.
Now on the face of it, this seems like a good idea, but there is a real major flaw, and it’s the Petrol we use.
Even brand new cars will not pass a Euro Standard 4 emission tests using 91 grade unleaded fuel, the car needs to be fuelled and run on 98 octane petrol in order to pass in most cases.
The biggest thing the Government could do to fix the quality of our air, is fix the quality of our fuel.
But this will cost the Government a lot of money, actually it will cost “US” money and our Government can’t afford it especially now they’re rebuilding Christchurch!
Yet there are still more ways.…. So why aren’t we investigating them?
It seems utter lunacy to be living in a Country renowned for producing some of the World’s most remarkable minds, brimming with Kiwi “number 8 wire” mentality and “can do anything” attitude, and not be able to come up with a better emissions rule than this?
It is the result of a Government creating an ineffective plan in order to gain public support over a very real environment issue, to better suit their own wants.
It is not legislation designed to improve anything for us, it is legislation designed to boost the ego of overpaid bureaucrats so they can keep their high paying jobs, (after all, they are not the ones driving cars priced under $10,000.)
We absolutely must stop this next phase of the Emission Rule and come up with a plan that actually works!
Damn it! We’re Kiwi’s, that’s what we do best, we come up with things nobody else has thought of and show the World how to do it.
The National Government has said it will not do anything to change the rule, it is an election year and this rule was introduced by Labour and only really affects their constituents.
In other words, National will not gain anything by overturning the rule except to help Labour voters (who aren’t going to vote National anyway).
They will only do something if it benefits them. How stupid, they are there to do what we want them to do, to do what is right, to research and come up with the right answers to issues that affect our lives, and implement them……not introduce ineffective policies that make our lives worse (and more expensive) especially when they don’t work.
Help me put pressure on the Government to change this Law.
This affects: Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Daihatsu, Suzuki, VW, Mercedes, BMW, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Isuzu, Mazda, Volvo as well as any other car entering NZ from overseas and models already here.
