There’s a perception floating around that the vehicle import industry in New Zealand is dragging its feet when it comes to emissions reduction. That we lack ambition. That we’re somehow the obstacle in the way of a cleaner transport future. The truth is, we’re not fighting progress—we’re trying to make it possible.

Let’s start with the facts. Even in 2023—the best year to date for bringing in low- and zero-emission vehicles—New Zealand’s transport emissions still increased. That should give everyone pause. Not because it shows failure, but because it shows that we’ve been chasing the wrong goal in the wrong way.

Instead of focusing on our fleet and our reality, we’ve been looking overseas for benchmarks. We've been told to adopt the standards of countries with completely different vehicle markets, economic profiles, and policy ecosystems. It's like walking into a gym and spotting a professional bodybuilder throwing around 150kg like it's nothing—and deciding we should do the same on day one. Predictably, we’ve strained something. We’re limping. And worse, we’re being told to keep up.

Our average fleet CO₂ profile sits around 170g/km or more. And yet the targets we’re being asked to hit for newly imported vehicles sit near 100g/km. That’s not a realistic transition—that’s a cliff.

We’re not saying we don’t want to improve. We’re saying we need to do it our way, with a focus on steady, meaningful reductions—not artificial targets that ignore our market dynamics, geography, or consumer realities. The result of setting the bar too high, too fast, is that we don’t get progress—we get paralysis. People hold on to older cars longer. We see perverse incentives. The whole system starts working against the very emissions goals it's meant to support.

We should be asking a different question: What does better look like for New Zealand? Not what Europe or the US has achieved after decades of policy consistency, manufacturing scale, and investment—but what we, as a nation reliant on used vehicle imports and stretched household budgets, can do sustainably.

The vehicle import industry has, for decades, supplied affordable, reliable cars to Kiwi families. That’s not a failure—it’s a success story. We’ve helped people get to work, get their kids to school, go on holidays, live their lives. These aren’t luxury vehicles for the rich. They’re the backbone of mobility for middle New Zealand.

And the good news? We can transition to lower emissions. We already are. Hybrids now make up a significant portion of used imports. Many of our members are investing in cleaner stock. But we need to climb the hill—not be expected to leap to the summit. Progress will come from incremental, well-planned steps. Not from throwing every regulation we can at the sector and hoping for the best.

It’s a shame that things got to this point. Had policy taken a more pragmatic shape earlier—focusing on phased improvements, incentivising cleaner choices, and trusting the market to adjust—we’d be further along by now. But instead, we’ve been told to run a marathon before we’ve laced up our shoes.

That’s why VIA continues to advocate for a transitional approach to transport decarbonisation. We support carbon reduction. We support cleaning up the fleet. But the rules have to reflect reality. The expectations must match the capacity of the sector and the budgets of everyday New Zealanders.

This isn’t about rejecting change. It’s about getting change to stick. We believe in progress—and we believe in doing it in a way that Kiwis can afford, businesses can deliver, and the planet can benefit from.

Let’s stop pretending we’re failing just because we’re not lifting what the professionals are. We’re showing up. We’re warming up. We’re putting in the work. And we’ll get there—if we’re given the space and time to train properly.