MEDIA STATEMENT

Tax savings expected to fuel another wave of hybrid car purchases

With a new regional fuel tax of up to 10 cents per liter looming, purchasers of hybrid cars now have the added motivation of significant tax savings. According to hybrid car specialist Stephen Pollard, paying less tax is an attractive benefit that goes hand in hand with fuel consumption that is half that of equivalent non hybrids, without the necessity of complicated financial structures or accounting fees that go along with legal tax avoidance practiced by some tax payers.

“Almost 50% of the cost of a litre of petrol is made up of excise tax and GST (a tax on a tax). The new regional petrol tax will push the tax component of a litre of petrol to well over 50%,” says Stephen.

As a result of far lower petrol consumption for kilometers traveled, owners of hybrid cars, like the Toyota Prius, effectively pay less GST and excise tax than owners of similar sized non-hybrids. The Toyota Prius is a mid to large sized hybrid car that uses half as much petrol as a non hybrid equivalent such as a Toyota Camry, thereby effectively halving the amount of petrol tax paid by the hybrid car owner.

“Fuel prices are having a real impact on Aucklanders and we are seeing this volatility correlate to a rise in demand for, and sales of, well maintained second hand hybrid cars. We can hope that along with fuel taxes, drivers will continue to be encouraged to move away from inefficient vehicles, and move towards fuel efficient, less toxic emission emitting options like hybrids."

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