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Speaker 1: Car sales in SA going along strongly and that's positive.

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Speaker 1: But the car doesn't have a battery in it, and

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Speaker 1: that's pretty certain because well, I mean, look, EV's are

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Speaker 1: still being sold, but not at the record levels, not

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Speaker 1: at the accelerated growth rate that they were. Kse Cilessian

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Speaker 1: is from the Motor Trades Association. San T.

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Speaker 2: CAZy, Good morning, Good morning, Matthew, good to be with you.

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Speaker 1: Tell me what's happening with EV's.

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Speaker 2: Well, look, South Australia's is absolutely still on the metal

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Speaker 2: on the pedal, with more vehicles purchase than ever before.

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Speaker 2: So as you mentioned, that's going strong. New vehicle sales

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Speaker 2: for May thirteen point six percent higher than at the

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Speaker 2: same time last year, but yes, zero and lower mission

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Speaker 2: vehicles despite being strong in a quarter of all new

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Speaker 2: car solts. So that includes your hybrids, your plugin hybrids,

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Speaker 2: and your EV's. We're seeing specifically the EV's showing some

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Speaker 2: early signs of plateauing.

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Speaker 1: Why is that.

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Speaker 2: I think there's a range of reasons. We are mindful

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Speaker 2: that there have been some really big price cuts by manufacturers.

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Speaker 2: That's a good thing for consumers. So for example, you've

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Speaker 2: seen brands like Pergo who have dropped twenty five thousand

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Speaker 2: dollars off of their E two thousand and eight model

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Speaker 2: to compete with some of the other lower priced Chinese brands.

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Speaker 2: But even the Tesla model Y has gone down by

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Speaker 2: sixteen thousand dollars over time, so for some motorists they

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Speaker 2: may be waiting for a better deal. On the other hands,

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Speaker 2: we know that since the end of last year, ev

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Speaker 2: incentives in South Australia were removed and that is also contributing,

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Speaker 2: in our view, to slowing electric vehicle sales and pushing

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Speaker 2: them past those growth levels that we'd seen last year.

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Speaker 1: That was three grand though, wasn't it. And I don't

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Speaker 1: want to say it's only three grand, but it is

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Speaker 1: pretty small fry when you're buying a sixty thousand dollar car.

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Speaker 2: Well, that is worth considering. I think when you look

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Speaker 2: at some of the sales and the growth that we

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Speaker 2: did have last year, and also some of the anecdotal

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Speaker 2: customer experience that we heard. For example, I was that

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Speaker 2: the BYD Experience Center in Fullerton, speaking to someone who

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Speaker 2: was getting their vehicle delivered to them, they were able

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Speaker 2: to get the three thousand dollars incentive, and their message

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Speaker 2: to me was very clear that it was a contributing

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Speaker 2: factor and a strong contributing faction factor to their purchase.

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Speaker 2: The reality is that electric vehicles still command a price premium,

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Speaker 2: and while we're seeing some sub forty thousand dollars electric vehicles,

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Speaker 2: they're largely smaller and have less range and are not

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Speaker 2: necessarily able to compete with some of those youths and

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Speaker 2: four by fours which make up the top five of

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Speaker 2: South Australian vehicle sold. So that's why the Motor Trade

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Speaker 2: Association is calling not just for electric vehicle incentives, but

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Speaker 2: also more mildly generous incentives for plug in hybrids and

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Speaker 2: for hybrids as well.

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Speaker 1: I just noticed that two thousand Tesla's arriving at Port

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Speaker 1: Melbourne on a monthly basis, but sales for Tesla's falling

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Speaker 1: in April forty four percent. There are so many cars

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Speaker 1: you're sitting there. I mean, if you want to talk

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Speaker 1: about getting a bargain, it seems to be a good

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Speaker 1: time if that's what you're looking for, because they will

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Speaker 1: want to move them ultimately.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I think the strong competition from China is driving

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Speaker 2: a lot of the European and American manufacturers to keep

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Speaker 2: pace with them. So, as I said, that is a

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Speaker 2: good thing for consumers, and you can see that in

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Speaker 2: the sales figures with brands like bid At O three

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Speaker 2: and the Seal both in the top five, as well

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Speaker 2: as the MG four, putting some pressure on the traditionally

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Speaker 2: top Tesla Model three and Model y.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Do you Reckon? There's a bit of envy in

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Speaker 1: that price in that, you know, the Elon Musks of

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Speaker 1: the world are saying, hey, we've got this really cool

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Speaker 1: product and you'll be driving it. But hey, only thing

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Speaker 1: is because it's so cool, it's going to cost you

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Speaker 1: ten twenty grand more than what you've been driving for

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Speaker 1: your whole life. But it is cool, so come and

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Speaker 1: buy it. Do you Reckon? There's a bit of that

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Speaker 1: and people are going, well, you know what, it's not

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Speaker 1: so cool anymore.

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Speaker 2: I think this speaks to our longer term challenges to

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Speaker 2: the growing adoption of zero and lower mission vehicles. The

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Speaker 2: early adopters were always going to come in and at

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Speaker 2: different price ranges, and they're more willing to pay for

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Speaker 2: mainstream every day mums and dad consumers. They might want

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Speaker 2: to buy an electric vehicle, but amidst the cost of

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Speaker 2: living crisis. They're thinking about where their money's going and

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Speaker 2: how much car they're getting for it. As I said,

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Speaker 2: those lowering prices and the increased competition will be a

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Speaker 2: good thing. We are still seeing a price premium, so

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Speaker 2: we do think more needs to be done if we're

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Speaker 2: going to drive up decarbonization, and I think ultimately measures

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Speaker 2: such as incentives can go a long way to achieving

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Speaker 2: our goals.

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Speaker 1: All right, So that's interesting that putting an incentive there,

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Speaker 1: and you reckon even if it was three grand, that's

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Speaker 1: enough to incentivize people to go and buy one.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so you can look at a vehicle

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Speaker 2: which might be thirty six thirty eight thousand dollars at

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Speaker 2: a lower priced EVS that three grand will actually start

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Speaker 2: to really make a competitive but particularly the city runners,

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Speaker 2: the people that are looking for maybe an internal combustion variant.

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Speaker 2: But also you know, we do see the larger vehicles

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Speaker 2: needing a little bit more assistance too, So that will

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Speaker 2: go that extra bit in assisting motorists and consumers to

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Speaker 2: make a decision that might be an interests of lowering

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Speaker 2: emissions on our oads.

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Speaker 1: Looking into the crystal ball, you'd have to say next

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Speaker 1: year when the emission standards come into effect for new vehicles,

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Speaker 1: there might be a swing back to evs.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think it's going to be a mixed bag.

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Speaker 2: So the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard for those that are

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Speaker 2: not aware, does a couple of things. It basically captures

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Speaker 2: the emissions of different manufacturers. So if you're a Nissan

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Speaker 2: or if you're a Tesla or a BYD, all of

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Speaker 2: the vehicles that you enter into into Australia will be

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Speaker 2: measured and you have to reach a target. If you

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Speaker 2: don't reach that target, you can do one thing. You

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Speaker 2: can buy credits from other ones like Tesla which are

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Speaker 2: selling a lot of evs, or you can pay fines.

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Speaker 2: It will drive more vehicles to Australia. I think it's

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Speaker 2: going to drive more choice and competition, which is a

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Speaker 2: good thing. But ultimately it doesn't incentivize a buyer necessarily.

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Speaker 2: So we do see we need the carrot as well

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Speaker 2: as the stick to get to where we want to go.

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Speaker 1: It'd be interesting to see in the next little while. Casey,

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Speaker 1: thank you for your.

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Speaker 2: Time, my pleasure. Thank you, Matthew Casey.

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Speaker 1: Celesian there who is from the Motor Trades Association. So

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Speaker 1: record new car sales for May thirteen percent higher than

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Speaker 1: this time last year. But EV's have gone off the boil,

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Speaker 1: and you wonder long term what it's going to mean

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Speaker 1: for evs. Okay, and now new emission standards next year,

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Speaker 1: so that might drive people back the other wave, traditional cars,

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Speaker 1: internal combustion engine cars become dearer under the federal government's framework.

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Speaker 1: But eventually, and you'd think sooner than later, a mileage

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Speaker 1: tax is going to have to come in to replace

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Speaker 1: the revenue the government is losing at the petrol pump

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Speaker 1: in the road tax, which is what it essentially is,

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Speaker 1: the fuel levee. So when that happens, well, perhaps it

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Speaker 1: flips it back again to people moving away from evs.

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Speaker 1: Time will tell, I suppose. But a road tax, a

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Speaker 1: mileage tax, is surely inevitable for people who drive EV's,

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Speaker 1: given also they're heavier because of the batteries, batteries and batteries,

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Speaker 1: and therefore the road suffers more as a result. So

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Speaker 1: it's certainly a state of flux.