The Clean Car Standard (CCS) was sold as the cornerstone of New Zealand’s transport-emissions policy. Two years in, the numbers don’t lie – it’s cracking under its own weight.

Today VIA releases Accelerating the Path to Sustainable Transport, a reality-check on how the CCS is ageing the fleet, hammering household budgets, and nudging the country further away from its climate targets. Here’s the blunt version.

Imports are tanking – and that matters

Used-vehicle imports refresh 80 per cent of Kiwi driveways. The report shows volumes could collapse to 60 000 units by 2028, a level we haven’t seen since tariffs came off in the late ’80s. Lower inflow means older, dirtier cars stay on the road longer; fleet emissions per kilometre are already rising.

Weight allowances are a perverse incentive

Because CCS targets slide upwards with vehicle mass, heavier new cars earn credits while smaller, genuinely efficient imports get pinged with penalties. The average new-car target in 2025 is 122 g CO₂/km; for used cars it’s 108 g – yet the used import sector carries the bigger compliance bill.

Price pain is landing in the wrong place

Japan’s auction prices for hybrids and EVs have doubled since 2019. Add CCS penalties and shipping costs and the forecourt price of a “clean” family car is out of reach for most buyers. Faced with a $3-5 k premium, households repair the old wagon and keep driving – the opposite of what the scheme intended.

VIA’s three-point fix

1. Inform consumers
   Let's make sure consumers know how much more it cost to bring their car in; CCS penalties should be transparent at purchase time.

2. Price the fuel, not the car
   Bolt a transparent, ETS-linked levy onto petrol and diesel. Every extra kilometre in a thirsty vehicle would cost more every day, nudging behaviour across the whole fleet instead of punishing a single point in the supply chain.

3. Keep it simple – and fair
   Scrap weight adjustments and adopt a flat fee for every gram over a single fleet-average threshold. Display it on the windscreen so buyers see the carbon cost before they sign.

Decarbonising takes more than fiddling with car imports

The paper calls for serious investment in public transport, safe cycling and walking networks, and the electrification of bus fleets. Cutting vehicle-kilometres travelled is faster and cheaper than waiting for the perfect electric car to appear.

Where to from here?

VIA’s message to Government is clear: fix the CCS or replace it. If we keep shrinking the import pipeline, we’ll keep burning more fuel in older cars and miss every carbon budget on the books.

Read the full report here [PDF, 3 MB] and decide for yourself whether the current policy is delivering on its promise.