Anthony Albanese‘s plan to force Australians to drive an electric car is set to drive up the price of new cars by thousands of dollars and cost dealers $2billion in revenue.
Labor’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard comes into force on July 1 – with new penalties included for manufacturers that sell non-EV models.
The federal government’s plan to reduce carbon emissions by 59 per cent over four years could substantially hurt Australia’s 3,700 car dealers if the penalties are passed on to them.
A Centre for International Economics report for the Australian Automotive Dealer Association estimates Labor’s plan could cost the industry between $1.1billion and $2.1billion from 2025 to 2029, with the potential to affect 68,493 jobs.
‘Costs are likely to at least in part be passed on to dealers and customers,’ the report said.
‘Across all scenarios, dealers are expected to see a decline in profits from new car sales, primarily due to penalties for non-compliance and price drops in the case of full compliance.’
The government’s NVES scheme would see credits given to car companies that sold more EVs but penalties imposed on manufacturers that sold a higher proportion of larger petrol and diesel utes and SUVs.
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries estimated Labor’s new laws would add $6,150 to the price of a Ford Ranger and $2,720 to a petrol-powered Toyota RAV4 SUV, but also reduce the price of a Tesla Model Y by $15,390.
Anthony Albanese’s plan to force Aussies to drive an electric car could drive up the cost of cars and cost dealers $2billion (pictured with Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff in Hobart)
The group’s chief executive Tony Weber told Daily Mail Australia that motorists would end up paying more for petrol and diesel cars over the next four years.
‘The regulation is designed to distort the market to get people to buy more efficient vehicles and if you don’t buy that more efficient vehicle there’s going to be penalties in the system,’ he said.
‘Those penalties will be borne by someone, most likely the consumer.
‘We can safely assume – in the whole scheme of things – the increases in prices throughout the system ultimately will come to be borne by the motorist.’
The prospect of new rules, designed to encourage Australians to buy more fully-electric cars, is yet to translate into stronger EV sales.
The number of Tesla and Polestar EVs sold in Australia plunged by 45.4 per cent this year, when sales for January to May 2025 were compared with the first five months of 2024.
The data from the Electric Vehicle Council also showed 70.2 per cent plunge in year-to-data sales of the Tesla Model 3 with just 317 leaving the showroom last month.
That’s only a fraction of the 1,958 sold in May 2024 and a far cry from 3,593 in February 2024 when the Model 3 was Australia’s third most popular car behind the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux utes.
Labor’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard comes into force on July 1 with new penalties (pictured are Teslas being recharged in Brisbane)
By comparison, 4,952 HiLuxes were sold last month, compared with 4,761 Rangers, even though these diesel utes both emit 200 grams of carbon per kilometre, making them targets under Labor’s new emission-reduction laws.
Ford has this year introduced a plug-in hybrid Ranger ute that can tow 3.5 tonnes like a regular diesel model.
Chinese carmaker BYD is now the world’s biggest producer of electric vehicles.
But it’s yet to make the top ten list of Australian car brands.
Eight of the top ten marques on the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries sales chart offer a fully-electric car, including Toyota, Mazda, Ford, Kia, Hyundai, GWM, MG and Nissan.
Mitsubishi has plug-in hybrid SUVs while only Isuzu, the seller of the diesel-powered D-Max offers no fully electric vehicle in 2025, but an electric version of that ute is coming to Australia next year, as Toyota starts selling a fully-electric HiLux.
