Government restricting second-hand Imports

[zipping]

THE federal government is about to put the brakes on full-bore imports of second-hand high-performance cars such as older Porsches, BMWs and even Volkswagens*.

While Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher claims the new safety standards for specialty vehicles is aimed at closing a loophole on vehicle classifications, car importers claim the move will drastically slash the number of high-torque vehicles coming into the country from the current figure of 5800 to just 1600 next year.

Some of the most popular second-hand imports will no longer be allowed under the tight standards to be introduced by Mr Fletcher, including older model Porsche 911s, BMW M3s, Nissan GT-Rs and Subaru WRX models.

That’s because the government wants to bump up what counts as a performance car to close loopholes which have led to thousands of campervans flooding the streets under the current scheme.

However, Jack Sandher, a car importer and the head of the Australian Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association, says the rule change is simply at the behest of major car manufacturers, who don’t want consumers to be allowed to import cheaper cars from overseas.

“Every single car we buy in Australia from this month will be an import, but the big three (car companies) just want us to accept they’re the only ones who can be trusted to undertake that task,” he said.

“This will decimate the industry as well as remove consumer choice.

“Thousands of Aussie jobs will be lost, especially at a time when the automotive sector needs encouragement and fair legislation.”

There are currently 131 small-time car importers in the country bringing in mainly second-hand Japanese performance cars.

The most significant change Mr Fletcher is proposing is to increase the performance threshold for imports from 105 kilowatts per tonne at the moment to 136kW/T next year.

Cars which had been sold in Australia when they were first released will also no longer be allowed to be imported second-hand.

But an Infrastructure Department spokesman said the intent of the scheme was to give motorists access only to niche vehicles which were not available on the market in some other way.

“Raising the current performance threshold is necessary to ensure ‘every day’ commuter vehicles cannot be imported under the current Specialist and Enthusiast Vehicle importation arrangements,” he said.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new...e6daee5f4596ae

[Charliewool]

Originally Posted by zipping

THE federal government is about to put the brakes on full-bore imports of second-hand high-performance cars such as older Porsches, BMWs and even Volkswagens*.

While Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher claims the new safety standards for specialty vehicles is aimed at closing a loophole on vehicle classifications, car importers claim the move will drastically slash the number of high-torque vehicles coming into the country from the current figure of 5800 to just 1600 next year.

Some of the most popular second-hand imports will no longer be allowed under the tight standards to be introduced by Mr Fletcher, including older model Porsche 911s, BMW M3s, Nissan GT-Rs and Subaru WRX models.

That’s because the government wants to bump up what counts as a performance car to close loopholes which have led to thousands of campervans flooding the streets under the current scheme.

However, Jack Sandher, a car importer and the head of the Australian Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association, says the rule change is simply at the behest of major car manufacturers, who don’t want consumers to be allowed to import cheaper cars from overseas.

“Every single car we buy in Australia from this month will be an import, but the big three (car companies) just want us to accept they’re the only ones who can be trusted to undertake that task,” he said.

“This will decimate the industry as well as remove consumer choice.

“Thousands of Aussie jobs will be lost, especially at a time when the automotive sector needs encouragement and fair legislation.”

There are currently 131 small-time car importers in the country bringing in mainly second-hand Japanese performance cars.

The most significant change Mr Fletcher is proposing is to increase the performance threshold for imports from 105 kilowatts per tonne at the moment to 136kW/T next year.

Cars which had been sold in Australia when they were first released will also no longer be allowed to be imported second-hand.

But an Infrastructure Department spokesman said the intent of the scheme was to give motorists access only to niche vehicles which were not available on the market in some other way.

“Raising the current performance threshold is necessary to ensure ‘every day’ commuter vehicles cannot be imported under the current Specialist and Enthusiast Vehicle importation arrangements,” he said.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new...e6daee5f4596ae

Saw this on yesterday’s news....
This Country’s totally fecked!!
Just another nail into this once “free” Australia!
And the sheep here continue copping it...
We DO, don’t we?

[Charliewool]

I’m outta here.........

[zipping]

Originally Posted by Charliewool

I’m outta here.........

The elites are intent on as much destruction as possible. It is a unity ticket.

[malazn mafia]

Absurd. Naturally the snob ripoff local dealers in suits and ties don't like their license to print money being threatened or removed. Ford Australia included, being an importer only company...

[Charliewool]

Let me get this right?... Our beloved Govco (whichever side, who cares) has just let our entire car manufacturing industry turn into dust..
They sell our gas, our ironore, our livelihoods to the highest bidders..
They can’t make a friggin decision on who was born where, for eligibility to be at the trough... Or whether blokes can marry blokes, or if we have the right to ask for mercy if we’re terminally ill.....
They can’t workout how to stop people kicking our doors in at night and terrifying us. Or how to stop some ice f head from mowing you down in a stolen BMW... Or how to KEEP above mentioned scum in the bighouse once the po po catchem...
YET, in two seconds flat they can decide on 105kwT to 136kwT. Increase on an imported friggin CAR.... That will benefit WHO, ya reckon???

[Trump]

I hear Central America is looking good...

[Charliewool]

Originally Posted by Trump

I hear Central America is looking good...

Exactly what many of your fellow countyrymen are espousing Mr Trump!!

[Trump]

Originally Posted by Charliewool

Exactly what many of your fellow countyrymen are espousing Mr Trump!!

I shall build the wall and the Mexicans will pay for it...

[Pis-ton broke]

i,m pretty pee,d off about this, i have an interest in importing at some time. and also the lack concern for car enthusiasts , its just not right. isn,t there a pollie guy that represents car enthusiasts in Canberra?

[zipping]

Ricky Muir of the Motoring enthusiasts party lost at last election.

But this sells itself.....how can a country that will soon be importing 100% of the market be restricted from importing anything second hand?.....surely its in violation of some of its FTA's (free trade agreements). This is a totally unjustified imposition on the consumer.

Whether anyone wants to import a car has zero to do with the government as long as they meet basic ADR's.

[Pis-ton broke]

yes , importing 100% of cars, but govco is only catering for the big companies, by the looks of it. i,m pee,d off about this. if i import a car that meets adr,s , whats the problem?
what about old Cadillacs, where do there sit?

[Mercury Bullet]

136kw/tonne a performance car? Lol.

That would just about include any falcon xt or Commodore sv6

Is anyone really surprised?
Businesses charge the most they think Aussies can afford and everything is interconnected, if our housing values go up then so do the price of goods and services within the country.

It's why I don't understand everyone patting themselves on the back about how good they did in buying xx investment properties and feeling super rich. You have a few houses and perhaps a couple million in property investment, but the other markets will soon follow suit. Groceries, fuel, electricity, car prices, trades... everything is going to go up in response to house prices going up.

There will be some who petition the government to protect their industry to ensure aussies pay aussie prices. The day of aussies having a 'fair go' is gone. Aussie life is now about being a consumer and being squeezed as hard as you can to prop up an economy that the government doesn't want to implode. They seem to be going to great lengths to ensure Australia's economy stays inflated.

For those of you with multiple investment properties, the values of your properties are going to have to be decimated in order for all this nonsense to go back to the way life was 30 years ago.

[OzJavelin]

Someone explain in plain english what they've done here to link campervans and 911s??
I can't understand this ....

[commodorenutt]

The link in the OP's post is subscription only, so I can't read it (I can only read what has been quoted) but it's likely to be the usual beat-up from the Tele, overlooking critical info to get the maximum number of "likes" and "shares"

The government website is: https://infrastructure.gov.au/vehicles/imports/

From my understanding of it, and talking to an importer, it's all to do with the government putting forward a bill a while back to allow private imports (once every 2 years) of new vehicles from other countries with similar vehicle legislation standards. That bill has been tossed around & drew mass criticism from big business - mainly the euro luxury car importers (who know this puts their legalised profiteering via the "Australia tax" at risk).

The government currently allows a range of "enthusiast vehicles" into the country, in limited numbers, either officially, via the RAWS scheme, or you can individually import your own car (much harder, and almost impossible to register if it's LHD and newer than '89).

The laws work well for allowing rare or unique vehicles in (low volumes, not available in this market etc - they're all OK to import).

What they are trying to stop, is a flood of cheap vans & camper conversions coming in as "low-volume enthusiast vehicles" - which qualify for the loophole because the conversion house only does low volumes. There are already very similar used vehicles that were landed here by the official approval channels, and have Australian compliance.
However, buying a locally available model, new or used, and converting it to a camper locally, is far more expensive than a clapped-out grey import, so there's a market for it - and the loophole is the "low volume" thing.

The fact these campers are notoriously underpowered, means implementing a minimum power-to-weight rule will make them illegal, and return the scheme to what it was designed for - allowing the import of low volume enthusiast & performance vehicles.

Where they have picked on the early model Porsche, it's because they have a poor power to weight ratio compared to today's cars. But why does that matter? Older cars (generally either 25+ years, or pre-89) don't have these limitations put on them.

Good on the media for finding the needle-in-a-haystack vehicle that this rule could possibly affect.....

[mike_nofx]

What ‘performance’ Car is below 136kw/t anyway?
I’d have thought WRX and GTR is above this?

[zipping]

The article is posted in full in the OP

I think you missed this bit.....Cars which had been sold in Australia when they were first released will also no longer be allowed to be imported second-hand.

[Mercury Bullet]

Originally Posted by mike_nofx

What ‘performance’ Car is below 136kw/t anyway?
I’d have thought WRX and GTR is above this?

Same as I posted before.
Story is a beat up.

Let me guess...jack Sandher sells imported motorhomes.

[Polyal]

I ranted about this in another thread but I will repeat as I like hearing myself.

How is it OK for me to buy a T Model Ford and daily drive it with no safety standards whatsoever but I cant import a 90's model Japanese car because either its a "performance" model or it was sold here 20 years ago.............

If its about safety then that doesnt make sense, if its about $$ then that also doesnt make sense...who who are they protecting?

[commodorenutt]

Originally Posted by zipping

The article is posted in full in the OP

I think you missed this bit.....Cars which had been sold in Australia when they were first released will also no longer be allowed to be imported second-hand.

Yes - but low volume cars are the exception.

This isn't aimed at stopping people bringing in an R32 GT-R, which were sold locally too - as they are low volume.

It is aimed at stopping grey imports of 90s & 00s Toyota & VW vans converted to campers, when those same vans were sold here new, in commercial volumes.

Originally Posted by Polyal

I ranted about this in another thread but I will repeat as I like hearing myself.

How is it OK for me to buy a T Model Ford and daily drive it with no safety standards whatsoever but I cant import a 90's model Japanese car because either its a "performance" model or it was sold here 20 years ago.............

If its about safety then that doesnt make sense, if its about $$ then that also doesnt make sense...who who are they protecting?

Simple - the Model T comes under historic/enthusiast/classic rules. Anything pre-89 is pretty much unrestricted - unless it's something like a hot-rod or extensively modified classic, where the mods were done post-89 (and can't be proven to be pre-89). They had to impose this as too many poorly constructed hot-rods, and crap mods were getting in under the "old car" rule.

Performance & low-volume cars are not affected by this either - nearly all Jap performance cars would well exceed the power to weight ratio (note how cleverly chosen it was - to exclude commercial vehicles & 4WDs), and the ones that don't, would nearly always fall into the low volume or not sold here categories.

As I mentioned in my first post, it's a sensationalist beat-up, and they tried to fuel the fire by finding a needle in a haystack model (an old 911) that this would effect.

But why would you import a basic non-turbo 1989-93 911? (the example they're obviously trying to use).
There's plenty of locally available, locally delivered in the day, examples that offer better value for money than paying import & compliance costs on an OS model.

But if there were say a GT3 or RS example of that model, it would have 2 avenues around it - 1. The power to weight ratio, and 2. Low build volumes.

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by commodorenutt

Yes - but low volume cars are the exception.

This isn't aimed at stopping people bringing in an R32 GT-R, which were sold locally too - as they are low volume.

It is aimed at stopping grey imports of 90s & 00s Toyota & VW vans converted to campers, when those same vans were sold here new, in commercial volumes.

Performance & low-volume cars are not affected by this either - nearly all Jap performance cars would well exceed the power to weight ratio (note how cleverly chosen it was - to exclude commercial vehicles & 4WDs), and the ones that don't, would nearly always fall into the low volume or not sold here categories.

I must be getting mixed messages because the importer of jap cars told me, for example, a Celica ST205 GT4 could not be imported and registered and it was previously sold in Aus. Has that changed?

My POV is that its all to complex for such a small problem. If they are trying to crack down on the dodgey backpacker/tourist van then fine but the rest of it is odd, they are protecting an industry that doesnt exists anymore.

[commodorenutt]

The regular Celica ST205 GT4 from the mid/late 90s was sold here, and not in limited numbers, so no, that wouldn't be allowed to be imported (even under rules from 5, 10, 15 years ago).

The Celica ST205 GT4 WRC on the other hand - that would qualify for the low-volume exemption.

[FG50T]

I always seem to be stuck in traffic behind one of these POS

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by commodorenutt

The regular Celica ST205 GT4 from the mid/late 90s was sold here, and not in limited numbers, so no, that wouldn't be allowed to be imported (even under rules from 5, 10, 15 years ago).

The Celica ST205 GT4 WRC on the other hand - that would qualify for the low-volume exemption.

Thanks, not having a swipe at you, your info is great; but how does that make any logical sense?

The WRC is no safer than the standard one, so just because it wasnt sold here thats ok to import but I can import a version of a car that was sold 17 years ago?

By doing this I am not taking away a new car sale, I dont want a new car, so no loss in gov revenue there.

Yet I can get a motorbike license and wipe myself out in no time, no safety restrictions etc.

[commodorenutt]

It's logical, if you look at 99% of the cars that are allowed under the exemptions.

Some of it does seem a bit silly, but most don't realise that big business lobbies the govt on a regular basis, and there's plenty of greased palms that had their finger in this pie over the years.

Think about this: it's 1998. You'd like one of those GT4s. Toyota Australia is still selling them (up to 1999) but you've found one in Japan - 3 years old, for 1/3 the price.

Toyota Australia certainly don't want you buying that, and miss out on the profit on a new one.

The WRC was pretty much sold out before it hit dealers - they weren't getting any more, so there's no need to fight it - hence the government allows those exemptions.


Look at all the post-1989 Jap cars that are allowed in - Supras, Soarers etc that were never sold here - no problem, because the car makers can't complain when they don't offer them.

It's not about buying a 17 year old car today - the rules were legislated back when those cars were new, or prior to them even being produced.

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by commodorenutt

It's logical, if you look at 99% of the cars that are allowed under the exemptions.

Some of it does seem a bit silly, but most don't realise that big business lobbies the govt on a regular basis, and there's plenty of greased palms that had their finger in this pie over the years.

Think about this: it's 1998. You'd like one of those GT4s. Toyota Australia is still selling them (up to 1999) but you've found one in Japan - 3 years old, for 1/3 the price.

Toyota Australia certainly don't want you buying that, and miss out on the profit on a new one.

The WRC was pretty much sold out before it hit dealers - they weren't getting any more, so there's no need to fight it - hence the government allows those exemptions.


Look at all the post-1989 Jap cars that are allowed in - Supras, Soarers etc that were never sold here - no problem, because the car makers can't complain when they don't offer them.

It's not about buying a 17 year old car today - the rules were legislated back when those cars were new, or prior to them even being produced.

I agree some protections when cars are new is fine, but 10+ years later?

[jpd80]

If say, Ford refuses to import Hi Po versions of Mustang, then private imports are also locked out.

That is unfair, the rule should be use it (importing) or lose it (exclusive importation)

So how does this affect importing older RHD Jag XF from the UK, are they also banned here?

[commodorenutt]

The RHD XF Jag from the UK is exactly what it's trying to stop - as they were sold here in commercial volumes, so GovCo believe you don't need to import one (unless you lived over there and owned it for a period of time).

If Ford did a "Shelby GT350H" version of the Mustang, in RHD, and didn't allow it to be sold in Australia, then it would qualify to be submitted for approval via SEVS.

The categories are here:
https://infrastructure.gov.au/vehicl...ons/index.aspx

If the vehicle is post-89 and doesn't fit in one of those, check the list of post-89 approved SEVS vehicles here:
http://rvcs-prodweb.dot.gov.au/sevs/sevsindex.htm

You'll note things like the modern Camaros, Corvettes up to C7, Dodge Challenger etc are all on the SEVS list.