Fleet rules handicap Commodore but Carr could change

Senator Kim Carr wants governments to buy more cars, and more Aussie cars. And Holden could be the short-term beneficiary if the Aussie car plan overseer gets his way.

Though Holden's introduction of new more fuel efficient direct-injected V6 engines for Commodore will see the car offer what the Lion is espousing as four-cylinder matching running costs, there are still significant hurdles to be overcome if a wider range of Aussie fleets are to buy the updated cars. Specifically some government, near-government and private enterprise fleets have a no six-cylinder policy.

Aimed largely at reducing fuel costs, such policies exclude the Holden large car whatever its real world fuel efficiency.

Speaking at yesterday's unveiling of Holden's new SIDI engines, outgoing Holden boss Mark Reuss said the company was equipped to re-educate fleets and get Commodore back on the shopping list.

"The [no six] policies are basically based on perception of the past, versus real fuel economy and operating costs. We've got a very aggressive marketing strategy including myself personally visiting the fleet managers, and all of our senior staff sitting down with each of the major fleets across the country with our sales and service staff, to go through the operating costs of our new V6s," Reuss explained.

"We've just begun that because we're just launching the car, but that [the policy] is something that I think local governments need to look at. In terms of real operating costs and the 'no six cylinder' policies, we're blowing those paradigms away...

"We're going to educate everybody around how we're doing that -- whether it be around real world fuel economy or CO2 improvements and operating costs; or alt fuels like LPG and E85... What is the real well to wheel impact of something like E85 and why is that a good thing for this country

Lending a hand to Holden, Federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Kim Carr says governments need to lead the change.

"The number of vehicles that been bought by governments in recent years has declined by 20,000 vehicles per annum. And that's come about as a result of a range of factors and it's something clearly I' not happy about," Carr stated.

"We should buy Australia both here and abroad... And that starts with our governments... We have great cars here, they are producing vehicle emissions much lower than people would think and we have great value for money," Carr opined yesterday.

"There is an alternative here, to buy Australian. Australian made vehicles and we'll be working closely with the industry to ensure that happens," Senator Carr stated.

The minister who effectively holds the purse strings on the Green Car Innovation Fund monies and other funds available to the local car industry called the Government's recent tax incentives "a mini scrappage program" intimating it was an opportunity for fleets to update.

"The tax incentives we have introduced in the recent stimulus pacakge have been very, very successful. We've seen car sales increase to record levels over the last couple of months. This has effectively been a mini scrappage program that encourages people to transfer from an old car to a new car with the support of a tax investment incentive arrangement.

"So there is a range of opportunities here right now, against the vehicles that are available right now, to allow people to meet their concerns on fuel economy right now, and buy Australian."

When asked whether the government needs to act to break down the four versus six-cylinder fleet rules, Reuss' replacement in the big chair at Holden, Alan Batey, called Senator Carr's comments "pretty dynamite".

"There's no silver bullet with this... Look, from our side we have to be relevant -- we cannot expect just because we manufacture in Australia that we're going to get a free kick. We have to tick all the boxes and we are [now] ticking all the boxes, so now we've got a place at the table and now have to do the hard yards to get our story out there," Batey told the Carsales Network.

"This [Commodore SIDI] is now getting down to the fuel economy numbers of some imported four-cylinders [cars]. I believe in large cars if you can get the right fuel economy, get the right power... If you can get that story right, large cars are very, very relevant to a lot of people.

"It's a very, very important change for us and you'll see we're going to put a lot of advertising dollars behind it to really get that message out there," Batey stated.

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