Dumping ground: Australia’s list of cleanest and dirtiest fossil fuel cars

There are no prizes for guessing which is the lowest emissions car brand in Australia – that gong goes to Tesla with zero emissions from their tailpipes. But Tesla is unique because it is the only pure electric brand – and the emissions story from the other car makers is a much dirtier tale that confirms Australia is a dumping ground for filthy products on wheels.

The main car industry lobby group – the Federated Chamber of Automotive Industries – on Friday released its assessment of tailpipe emissions for all car brands (with the exception of Tesla), hailing the “success” in beating the voluntary average target of 154 grams of Co2 emitted per kilometre travelled.

The result of 150gCo2/km for light vehicles contrasts with the EU’s 2021 target of 95gCO2 per kilometre, falling to 60gCo2 by 2030, and reinforces the message delivered by VW in the last two weeks that Australia is, and will continue to be, a dumping ground for dirty and old and ultimately less efficient and more cost car technologies because of the government’s refusal to impose any form of emissions standards.

But the FCAI insists there should be no compulsory target in Australia, and brands should be allowed to advance at their own pace over the coming decade. Its “voluntary target”, which includes controversial offsets, is about 100gCo2 by 2030, still more than 50 per cent above the EU target.

“Individual brands may not always record annual improvements or meet the annual industry target. What matters is where we are in 2030,” FCAI boss Tony Weber said in a statement.

The measure of Co2 emissions does not include particulates, an insidious form of tailpipe pollution believed to be responsible for more than 1750 deaths a year in Australia, and more than 250 in New Zealand, as Tesla chair Robyn Denholm pointed out this week.

The prize for the dirtiest car brand in Australia goes to Lamborghini, which sold 111 vehicles in 2020 with an average emissions of 331gCo2/km, not even close to its “target” of 179gCo2/km.

The next worse were Chrysler, Ferrari, and Maserati, again none of them not even close to their voluntary targets, missing them by around 50 per cent.

The cleanest fossil fuel car brand, by some margin, was Toyota, which came in at just over 100gCo2/km for the 102,822 light vehicles it sold in 2020 – thanks to the enormous popularity of its hybrid models such as the Camry, Corolla and RAV4 – and easily beat its “target” of 160gCo2.

The performance of the other top selling light car brands in Australia was not so flash. Mazda (73,374 cars) came in at 156gCo2/km, just missing its target, while Hyundai (60,888 cars sold), came in at an average 168gCo2/km, well above its target of 148g and despite the popularity of its Kona and Ioniq electric cars.

Kia (56,076 cars sold) also missed its target with an average 169g, as did Mitsubishi (169g) and Honda (155g).

Among those brands to actually beat their “targets”, apart from Toyota, were Lexus (142g vs 180g target), Mercedes Benz  (162g vs 175g), Jaguar (150g vs 180g) and BMW (162g vs 168g target).

Mini was the second cleanest brand, no doubt thanks to the popularity of its new electric Mini, and delivered an average emissions of 124gCo2/km from the 3,143 vehicles it sold, well below its 145g target. Suzuki was third cleanest at 129g, but missed its target of 118g.

The story for heavier vehicles, big SUVs and utes, was not so great. The average here was 217gCo2/km, well above the 197g “target”, and Toyota, despite its strong result in light vehicles, badly missed its target in this category with 99,625 sold delivering an average 230gCo2/km, well above its “target” of 211g.

The worst in this category was the luxury Lexus brand, with an average 304gCo2/km from the 343 heavy SUVs it sold in 2020, and a long way from its voluntary “target” of 253gCo2/km.

The cleanest brands in this category were Fiat (150g but with just 35 vehicles sold), Peugeot (153g), Subaru (164g) and Volvo (166g).