GMSV commits to Australia ahead of tough new emissions standard

The Australian distributor of some of the market’s highest-emitting new vehicles insists it will survive Down Under despite the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) proposed by the federal government from 2025.

However, the capacity in which General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) operates in Australia will depend on which direction the government takes with its first national new-vehicle emissions regime.

GMSV, which imports Chevrolet Silverado pick-up trucks, the Corvette supercar and, soon, the big new Yukon SUV from GMC and the Lyriq electric SUV from Cadillac, says its focus has always been on the transition to EVs locally and abroad by 2035.

However, the immediate future of models including the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and 2500 has been put under a cloud by the impending NVES legislation, which will ultimately impose financial penalties for selling higher CO2-emitting vehicles.

The federal government published an impact analysis at the end of January outlining three NVES strategies – a ‘soft’ Option A, intermediate Option B and tough Option C.

Option B is the government’s preference and it wants it in place by January 1 next year, with the current proposal outlining tightening annual emissions reductions out to 2029.

Car companies would be penalised $100 per gram of CO2 emitted by each vehicle over their fleet-wide emissions limit, according to two thresholds: one for passenger vehicles and all SUVs; the other for utes, large pick-ups and vans (LCVs).

Toyota has indicated those penalties would be passed directly onto consumers, which would spell higher prices for customers.

Speaking with carsales at this week’s launch of the updated 2024 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD, GMSV officials warned proposed NVES legislation should be adopted gradually and sustainably.

GM Australia and New Zealand managing director Jess Bala said adoption of the toughest NVES proposal would cause GMSV to re-think its big-truck strategy locally.

“The way we’re looking at it is that we’re very much committed to providing customers the cars they need and want for their lifestyles, jobs or businesses – whether it be a big truck, the Corvette, the GMC Yukon or even the luxury space with our Cadillac SUVs,” Bala said.

“We need to evaluate what the regulation comes in at, but we believe that while the country does need to move towards an EV future, obviously it’s something that can’t happen overnight.

“Internally, we’ll continue to evaluate what it looks like for us. We already have a plan to bring EVs in and that plan has been in the works for four or five years.

“Even outside this potential efficiency standard that’s going to come in. We’re always evaluating what are the right cars to bring to market for our customers and environmentally. That won’t change.”

Industry stakeholders had until Monday this week (March 4) to provide submissions on how the NVES should be legislated in Australia.

GMSV said it would await the government’s release of its submission before speaking publicly on the matter, but a spokeswoman assured customers the local GM importer was not going anywhere.

“We have a plan for the future and this isn’t going to impact us to the point where we exit the Australian market again, because I think that’s what people are probably going to start wondering,” she said.

“We have an EV plan for the future and we have a plan for this market: Cadillac is launching in Australia and we have no intention to change our Corvette, GMC Yukon and Silverado plans unless the most extreme option comes in.

“If it does then we need to evaluate our product plans for the future.”

Because Chevrolet falls under the broader GMSV banner in Australia, the distributor will be able to offset heavier-emitting vehicles like the Silverado with new electric options coming from sister luxury brand Cadillac, headed by the new Lyriq later this year.

“We will still have our EV portfolio here. We’ve announced Lyriq and we’ve got some other models to share in the coming months and years. Lyriq is not the only product that’s going to be in that portfolio,” the spokeswoman said.

Australia’s proposed NVES regulations are similar to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards introduced in the US decades ago.

Although Chevrolet offers an electric version of the Silverado in North America, which would potentially help offset GMSV’s high-emitting vehicles, Bala admitted that vehicle still isn’t deemed suitable for the needs and requirements of Australian motorists.

“We were surprised at the speed in which they [the government] want to introduce these changes because everyone knows the lifecycles of new cars and the time it takes to get them to market. It’s not that we can just flick a switch and be compliant,” she said.

“Obviously we’ve needed to do something here for some time. There are other countries around the world that are already on these paths – it’s just a matter of knowing what the end goal is and having a realistic goal to get there.

“We’ve worked both internally and externally with different regulatory bodies to form our feedback and that has gone into our submission.

“We all want to achieve the same thing, it just needs to be done in a realistic way that supports the industry as a whole, customers and lifestyles.

“Personally, I’m hoping that we don’t go to the very far extreme as I think that’s going to have the biggest impact in the shortest term from a negative standpoint.

“It’s about finding the middle ground and implementing things in the right way.”

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