THE RUDD GOVERNMENT and State Premiers are expected to discuss the introduction of mandatory carbon emission standards at this week’s Council of Australian Governments meeting in Darwin - a move which could precipitate radical change in the local car industry.

Green-car incentives are also said to be on the agenda and, if approved, could give buyers [...]

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As we have covered in some detail previously, many Australian new car dealers are facing their own credit crisis, with GE Money and GMAC Financial Services pulling out of the Australian floor-plan credit marketplace at the end of this year.

Dealerships that are currently financing their stock through GE Money and GMAC have until December 31, [...]

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The national Fuelwatch scheme has been defeated in the Senate and the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce (VACC) has come out in support of the Senate action in rejecting ’this flawed scheme’.

Claiming it ‘a victory of commonsense’, the VACC claims that the scheme, purported to save motorists money on fuel, would actually have resulted in higher prices [...]

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At the core of the Rudd Government’s response to the Brack’s Review, ‘A New Car Plan For A Greener Future’, is $6.2 billion in assistance to our local car manufacturing industry over the next 13 years. Now, $6.2 billion sounds big, but will it be enough and has this assistance package been well-enough thought out? .

Some industry veterans have their doubts. As does TMR.

One, notably [...]

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The Federal Government today handed down its response to the Bracks Review of the Australian Automotive Industry at the Automotive Centre of Excellence in Melbourne. The Government’s response, ‘A New Car Plan For A Greener Future’, will provide a staggering $6.2 billion in assistance to local manufacturers over thirteen years. Of these grants, $3.4 billion [...]

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STOP PRESS: The Rudd Government’s proposed increase to the luxury car tax, from 25 percent to 33 percent on vehicles worth more than $57,180, has been brought to a screaming halt in the Senate. Family First Senator, Steve Fielding, cast his lot with the opposition, defeating the legislation at the second reading, 34 votes to [...]

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The VACC has labelled the Rudd Labor Government’s proposed Luxury Car Tax (LCT) a ridiculous shambles and we cannot help but agree.

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Gee, talk about ‘all shoulders to the wheel’. First it was the big announcement from the Rudd-bot about Fuelwatch which is predicted to, but may not actually, save us the grand total of… (wait for it… wait for it…) 1.5 cents a litre!

Whoa, tie me down: a whole 1.5 cents, I wonder what I’ll rush [...]

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Federal opposition leader has dubbed the government’s controversial FuelWatch plan as “FoolWatch” as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd hints at a possible double-dissolution election.

The opposition are preparing to block a number of key Budget measures in parliament in a move that could force an election as early as late 2009, one of which is FuelWatch.

Implementation of [...]

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With the Rudd administration due to handdown their first budget this Tuesday, wealthy average Australians are preparing to dodge the bullets and one of them is aimed squarely at what the government considers to be ‘luxury cars’. Treasurer Wayne Swan has confirmed that the price of luxury cars will rise and government coffers will [...]

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