There’s been a great of publicity over Suzuki and Isuzu’s Clean Car Standard issues. Both importers argue the Government’s forthcoming regulations could make it a real challenge to do business in New Zealand.
Suzuki sells small, light and very thrifty vehicles. Isuzu sells utes and a heavy-duty SUV. How could two such disparate brands have exactly the same problem?
The Clean Car Standard sets emissions targets for importers to meet. Starting in 2023, averages across the range must meet decreasing targets; milestones include 112.6g/km for cars and 155g/km for utes from 2025, and 63.3g/87.2g respectively from 2027.
Individual models are weighted, so a light car (like a Suzuki Swift) must do even better, while a heavier vehicle (like an Isuzu D-Max) gets some extra allowance. But if the average across a range is higher than the targets from 2023, distributors have to pay a fine for every gram they are over – applied right across the fleet. Fines starts at $45/g in 2023 and go up from there.
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So brands can still import models over the target, as long as they can offset them with vehicles that are well under. Given that an indicative figure for a Suzuki Swift 1.2 is currently 122g/km and an Isuzu D-Max 238g/km according to the Government's RightCar website (neither adjusted for weight), it’s clear that a good mix of electric vehicles is key to avoiding big bills from the Government in the next few years.
And that’s where Suzuki and Isuzu have a shared problem. The lightness of most Suzuki models means they must achieve emissions targets well beyond where they are now, yet the brand has no EVs in the pipeline for at least the next two years (the current Swift hybrid is of the "mild" variety and only a little more economical than the standard models). And the cost of electrifying a small car is just as high as a large one.
Extra cost will have to be passed onto consumers, despite most Suzukis also being eligible for generous rebates to buyers from April under the Clean Car “feebate” scheme because they are so economical. Confusing, right?
Isuzu’s situation is simpler. It’s 100 per cent focused on utes (the MU-X SUV is derived from the D-Max ute) and it has nothing to balance out its high emissions until EV models start to appear around 2040.