After Tesla, Polestar exits Australian car lobby as fight against emissions intensifies

Electric car maker Polestar Australia walked out of Australia’s main car lobby on Friday, a day after Tesla did the same, protesting the body’s criticism of the government’s proposed emissions regulations.

In a letter to the Federation of Automotive Industries, Polestar Australia, which is part-owned by Chinese company Geely Automobile, said the FCAI’s comments against the proposed Regulations were unrepresentative and had “damaged” public confidence in the policy.

To increase the number of electric cars on the road and reduce emissions, Australia has proposed vehicle efficiency standards that would penalize carmakers who import products with higher emissions and reward those who introduce cleaner cars.

Delaying the standards or making them less stringent, as the FCAI wants, will make Australia a dumping ground for old technology vehicles and place the burden of emissions on other sectors of the economy, Polestar Australia added in its letter.

“The brand cannot, in good faith, continue to allow its donations to fund a campaign designed to deliberately reduce the automotive industry’s contribution to Australia’s ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Samantha Johnson, director of Polestar Australia, said in the letter.

Tesla left the FCAI on Thursday and resigned from its board, accusing it of providing false information about the proposed standards and their impact on car prices.

In response to questions about the exit, the FCAI said on Friday it could not support a rate that met the needs of high-end car owners while leaving others with little choice and high prices.

FCAI said its members represented more than 50 brands. Its president and two vice-presidents are from Mazda, Toyota and Mitsubishi Motors respectively.

Australia’s left-wing Labor government opened a consultation on the standards in February and also released a “preferred model” for the new standards.

It plans to introduce a new standard in 2025, which will be tougher each year, with the goal of reaching an average car emission level similar to that of the United States around 2028.

Russia and Australia are among the only developed countries without energy efficiency standards.

The FCAI said earlier this week that the government’s proposed option would increase prices and limit options, especially for popular trucks in the country. (Reporting by Lewis Jackson; Editing by Himani Sarkar)