Fuel exemption 'inferior option' to appease voters
The paper, based on analysis by consultants ACIL Tasman and prepared in July last year, finds higher fuel prices tend to raise demand for more fuel-efficient cars, as was the case in Europe.
But CO2 emissions or fuel-economy standards "do not necessarily encourage consumers to shift to a vehicle with better fuel-economy within the same market segment or to a vehicle in a smaller market segment".
It suggested standards would be slow-acting because of the slow turnover of the fleet, with cars on average operating in Australia for 18 years.
"By increasing vehicle prices, CO2 emissions or fuel economy standards could encourage longer retention of old vehicles," the report said.
The research found private buyers tended to opt for vehicles with better fuel economy than cars bought by governments or companies.
Therefore, governments and corporate buyers were "nudging" the market towards cars with relatively poor fuel economy. Imposing mandatory fuel -emissions standards would increase the costs of vehicles.
G. Chambers Williams III: Top-selling Cruze enters 2nd year
Chevrolet's surprising new compact, the Cruze, introduced last year, has been a hit from the start — and it was the best-selling car in its class in August.
Last month, the Cruze outpaced the perennial favorites in the compact segment, the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic, by a wide margin. Chevy sold 21,807 of the Cruze, compared with 16,420 of the Corolla and 12,083 of the Civic.
August was the fifth month in a row for Cruze sales to top 20,000, a milestone Chevrolet hasn't seen in a long time for a compact car.
And for the year to date through August, the Cruze is a close second to the Corolla, with 169,427 deliveries versus 170,744 for the Corolla. Honda had delivered just 153,660 of the Civic through August, and Ford has sold just 127,006 of the new Focus compact.
Granted, supplies of the Corolla and Civic were constrained a bit in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, but that's not the only reason for the Cruze's success.
GM says some buyers who couldn't find the Civic or Corolla they were looking for went instead to Chevy dealerships and bought the Cruze.
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