KEY POINTS:
Used-car importers are today unleashing an aggressive advertising campaign depicting Prime Minister Helen Clark and Associate Transport Minister Judith Tizard as cartoon clowns, driving a "crazy" gas-guzzling jalopy.
The Independent Motor Vehicle Dealers Association is running half-page advertisements in the Herald and other newspapers claiming proposed tough emission standards will, by restricting the age of imports, raise prices and force people to keep driving "old clunkers" for longer.
Its advertisements, headlined "Introducing Labour's crazy car policy", feature the cartoon characters in a run-down vehicle blowing out black smoke and labelled "Helen and Judith's crazy car".
Association chief executive David Vinsen acknowledged last night that running the advertisements, part of a $300,000 publicity campaign funded by donations from members, was "a relatively high risk".
But he said it was at least attracting more Government interest than a year of serious research and lobbying by the organisation in conjunction with the more conservative Motor Trade Association, which has distanced itself from the advertisements.
The organisation last week reconsidered running the adverts after Helen Clark poured scorn on its strategy, which precedes Cabinet consideration of emissions standards due to be introduced in early January.
Mr Vinsen said that was to allow discussions with the Government which had led to a slight amendment to the advertisements' proposed text, taking into account a likelihood that standards for petrol vehicles would be phased in over a longer period than first mooted.
But he said the association's major concern remained about the negative impact it believed the standards would have on the overall age of New Zealand's vehicle fleet.
"We have urged the Government to develop and implement a proper strategy to manage the national vehicle fleet," he said.
"This would involve encouraging the scrapping of older, grossly polluting and less-safe vehicles currently in the fleet, including some of the more than 750,000 vehicles that are older than 15 years."
Ms Tizard said an association claim that the price of an average family car would rise by $5000 was reminiscent of its unfulfilled prediction in 2002 that a new frontal impact standard would hit motorists in the pocket.
That did not occur, the minister said, and the standard was believed to be saving about 30 lives a year from crashes, just as the emission rules would reduce premature deaths from air pollution.
"I think it's a silly campaign, and if they have money to throw at this, they must be making a lot of money out of some pretty dubious vehicles."
Ministry of Transport environment and safety general manager David Crawford said the fact that dealers would no longer be able to import nine or 10-year-old vehicles would not make six or seven-year-old cars any costlier than they were now.
He said those unable to afford the newer vehicles would still be able to buy older models which had been imported before the introduction of the new standards.
