“We cannot support it:” Polestar follows Tesla out of car lobby over Toyota led campaign

The Swedish based electric car maker Polestar has joined Tesla in quitting Australia’s main car lobby over the campaign it has launched against the federal government’s proposed new vehicle emissions standards.

Tesla announced it had quit the FCAI on Thursday and Polestar followed it up on Friday, saying the FCAI campaign – driven largely by Japanese car makers led by Toyota – is intolerable.

“With transport emissions forecast to be Australia’s largest source of emission by 2030, Australia has a clear role to play and must catch up with the rest of the developed world,” it wrote in a letter to the FCAI.

“Such a campaign is not aligned with Polestar’s focus, and we cannot support it.

“Claims by the FCAI and its members of significant price hikes in response to the proposed Standard are over-blown. The FCAI has not released the full modelling underpinning its assertion; to the general public or to its own members.

“Rather, it appears that the FCAI has cherry-picked what it thinks will progress the position of only some members.”

“It’s done some serious damage to consumer perception”

In an interview on RN Breakfast, Polestar head of communications Laurissa Mirabelli said the campaign against the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) was damaging public sentiment.

“So, for us, even option B [government’s preferred option] is a compromise, and everyone’s going to have to compromise if we want the right standard for Australia. And so the FCAI’s campaign so far really doesn’t represent our position at all. And we believe it’s done some serious damage to consumer perception and trust in this proposed policy,” she said.

“It’s quite evident from overseas experience that we just haven’t seen that sort of price increase when the standard has been introduced in other markets in the EU or in the US.

“Even the International Council on Clean Transportation have basically said that because there are technologies already available to lower the emission on cars, there’s no reason why Australia wouldn’t be able to introduce cost effective solutions to meet this standard.”

She also noted that the Grattan Institute has said it is unlikely to cause prices to rise more than an average of one per cent, and this would be offset by lower fuel and maintenance costs.

Rumours swirl that other automakers may follow Tesla and Polestar

There are now rumours that other major automakers may also pull out of the FCAI.

“I understand that there’s other industry players who are still assessing their own position because obviously not everybody is aligned to the FCAI’s current narrative,” said Mirabelli.

“It’s really just car companies doing their numbers, figuring out where they sit, where they can land.

“I think when the FCAI is making comments on behalf of the entire industry there are lots of different opinions within that industry.”

The FCAI may be facing a broader exodus with remaining members deeply concerned about a possible referral to the competition watchdog.

Yesterday it was reported that Tesla will refer the lobby group to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for suspicion of being involved in price implementation strategies between competitive car brands.

In its letter to FCAI CEO, Tesla outlines its concerns.

“Tesla is uncomfortable with the FCAI indicating that carmakers will enact fixed price changes in response to emissions standards.” reads the letter.

“As an industry association, the FCAI should be careful to not facilitate coordination amongst competitor companies about how they change prices or supply in response to regulations.

“Any impacts of NVES on vehicle prices – both up and down – are subject to complex competition and trade between competitors in both the vehicle market and the regulatory credit market. Companies have several options in responding to the NVES including adjusting product mix, adjusting volume, carrying debits and credits over several years, and negotiating trade of regulatory credits.

“When the FCAI makes blanket claims about how its members will change product prices, it risks facilitating or creating the impression of anti-competitive behaviour. It is up to individual companies to set prices, and it is inappropriate for the FCAI to tell companies in private meetings or public commentary what any price changes will or should be, or to suggest that these price changes are fixed and uniform.”

Following this morning’s interview, a spokesperson from Volkswagen Group Australia told The Driven that its brands are “discussing the broader situation” regarding the Tesla and Polestar’s resignation from the FCAI, indicating that it too may end its association with the automotive lobby group.

Pressure continues to build on FCAI boss

Tesla and now Polestar’s announcement that they intend to leave the FCAI adds to mounting pressure on CEO Tony Weber who last month came under fire for threatening to run a 2010 anti mining tax style fear campaign against the government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard.

Weber claimed that the NVES would cost the entire car-buying public $38 billion in the first five years, which led to the AFR running a story titled “Labor’s new EV-boosting rules will cost $38b, auto group says”.

This was followed by Coalition leader Peter Dutton and Nationals Senator Matt Canavan parroting claims that the NVES would see the price of popular vehicles increase by up to $25,000. These claims have been widely rejected including by the Electric Vehicle Council.