Coalition treasury spokesman and former energy minister Angus Taylor has joined up with Japanese car giant Toyota and the legacy auto industry to campaign against the federal Labor government’s proposed new vehicle emissions standards.
Taylor, who led several personal campaigns against EVs when in office, was photographed holding up a “hands off my ute” sticker at a Toyota dealership in Perth, with the head of the local car lobby Stephen Moir, who is also head of the Automotive Institute of Technology.
“If implemented in it’s current form, the NVES will have a significant effect on not only the industry, but consumers, who will be paying more for new cars and potentially have less choice if manufacturers leave the Australian market,” Moir wrote  in a LinkedIn post.
“It was a pleasure to have the Opposition Treasurer, the Hon Angus Taylor MP meet with us at City Toyota to discuss the impacts that the NVES will have.
“We are all committed to a fuel efficiency standard but it is folly to attempt to match the US experience over 50 years and expect the industry to meet similar standards in one year.”
The Commonwealth Bank, however, says it is not clear what the impact will be on the makers of utes in the Australia market. it says the proposed emissions standard would simply provide incentives for makers to provide more battery models in the Australia market because they will receive credits for their vehicles.
“A large choice of BEV commercial vehicles could help increase demand,” it notes in a new report.
He later appeared on ABC’s 7.30 report. “There are vested interests who would like us to tell what kinds of cars that customers should drive. That is not our role. We do believe in customer choice,” Taylor said.
But that is what the Coalition and the legacy auto industry have been accused of doing  in opposition vehicle emission standards, which exist in all other advanced countries bar Russia.
Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of The Driven, and also edits and founded the Renew Economy and One Step Off The Grid web sites. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years, is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review, and owns a Tesla Model 3.