Australian Car Makers Vow To Fight Any US-Styled Emission Standards

[JoeT]

Emissions Law Slammed

Liz Minchin
27 July 2007
www.drive.com.au

Australia's car industry has vowed to fight any moves to impose compulsory greenhouse gas emissions standards for new vehicles, despite such rules already applying in the United States and China.

A week after Ford announced it was closing an engine plant in Geelong partly in anticipation of strict emissions laws being introduced in Europe, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Andrew McKellar yesterday declared that such mandatory standards were "impractical" and would clash with the introduction of emissions trading in Australia.

Speaking at a business lunch in Melbourne, Mr McKellar said local car makers had been alarmed by a footnote in the recent Prime Minister's taskgroup report on emissions trading, highlighting the international trend towards stricter emissions rules.

"There's a very real danger we could end up with future governments wanting to go down that path as well," Mr McKellar said.

"As (General Motors) boss Bob Lutz has described it, that's like trying to solve the nation's obesity problem by saying that the clothing manufacturers are no longer allowed to manufacture larger sizes."

The European Union has agreed to the world's toughest greenhouse emissions standards, meaning that by 2012 the average car sold in Europe should produce no more than 120 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre — about as fuel efficient as a Toyota Prius.

Last month the United States Senate backed a bill requiring cars to burn 30 per cent less fuel by the year 2020, with plans in some states following California's lead to demand even greater emissions savings.

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[Aych Es Vee]

we dont need more emmision laws .... especially for a country with such a small population, on such a massive piece of land....

[redimpss5]

YEA, what is the big deal about taking a big breathe of air, when I can cough and cough!

[jkennedy293]

What next? Lower the cost of cigarettes? Encourage drunk driving? Rebuild the asbestos industry?

[fred96ws6]

I hope they fight it and win. Someone needs to put those Green Nazis in their place.

[Caleb02]

how about we have one set of standards accross the world for everything to do about cars period, spped limts, side of road u drive on, safety standards, building standards, etc.

[Chaz_23]

Yeah, well our auto industry is fighting too and see how well that's going.
These laws will be in effect in Australia too sooner or later, nothing some auto industry rep can do about that.

[t-rex]

This is strange, because Australia was one of the first countries to implement strict emission requirements following the US and Japan.

[ctaylorzl1]

"Australian Car Makers Vow To Fight Any US-Styled Emission Standards". I wish US car makers would fight asainst our own outrageous emission standards. Lutz put it very well by saying "that's like trying to solve the nation's obesity problem by saying that the clothing manufacturers are no longer allowed to manufacture larger sizes."!

[Whitesky]

Originally Posted by fred96ws6

I hope they fight it and win. Someone needs to put those Green Nazis in their place.

Exactly. Glad to see someone have the ____ to stand up to these nutjobs.

[Carguy]

Originally Posted by fred96ws6

I hope they fight it and win. Someone needs to put those Green Nazis in their place.

(((AMEN!!!)))

[1G6]

Originally Posted by fred96ws6

I hope they fight it and win. Someone needs to put those Green Nazis in their place.

Amen, brother.

[jman196]

I also despise the emission standards. If there were none, think of the kind of mpg you could get out of a vehicle. So being green in one respect equates to being less green in another. Take hybrids for example.

[hq308]

Originally Posted by Caleb02

how about we have one set of standards accross the world for everything to do about cars period, spped limts, side of road u drive on, safety standards, building standards, etc.

So you'd be happy to drive on the left side of the road, driving from the right hand side of the car, have your speeds changed to kilometres etc?

Probably not? but at the same time I'm not prepared to change either and this is where your whole plan falls over.

(I'm not driving an Opel Commodore either, it's a HOLDEN Commodore!)

[PA Dweller]

Originally Posted by Caleb02

how about we have one set of standards accross the world for everything to do about cars period, spped limts, side of road u drive on, safety standards, building standards, etc.

I think you would need a world government to do something like that.