Green guide star ratings to be dropped

[Gaz]

I thought the objection was because of the floored way the stars are calculated, essentially making the ecoboost, with a lower l/100km figure somehow was ranked worse than a car with a higher figure?

I didn't particularly like the system. Give the user the RAW facts, and let them make their own decision, IE x l/100km @ x g(co2)/100km. Not a star rating essentially with the government saying this one is better.

Feel similar with ANCAP, you get a start for seat belt reminders? ANCAP should purely be based on how protected you are in a crash if you are using all features as legally required.


http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/west...-1226542448255

AT a time when fuel economy is a key focus for new-car buyers, a crucial star-rating guide on each vehicle's environmental impact is about to vanish.

The Federal Government plans to abolish star ratings on the Green Vehicle Guide following pressure from Ford, whose locally made "eco" models developed with $42 million of taxpayer money don't meet some government purchasing requirements.

The Green Vehicle Guide lists fuel consumption and air pollution data of most new models and summarises the results with a rating up to five stars, similar to those on whitegoods.

It's used as a benchmark by business and government fleets and one in five new-car buyers visit the site each month.

But the star ratings, which have helped almost two million motorists over the past eight years, are set to disappear from the website on January 1 because, the discussion paper says, "consumers are much more knowledgeable about the environmental impacts of vehicles" than before.

Ford's latest "eco" models, including the four-cylinder Falcon and diesel Territory, don't meet environmental criteria for some government fleets.

Ford says the entire car industry supports the move to drop the consumer-friendly ratings, but several leading brands have broken ranks.

A poll by The Sunday Times found Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Mazda and Suzuki, to name a few, were in favour of retaining the GVG star ratings.

The Australian Automobile Association (which represents seven million motorists) and the Australasian Fleet Management Association (which represents 600 fleet operators who manage more than 800,000 vehicles) are also in favour of keeping the ratings.

Holden did not submit a proposal but supports Ford's position, presumably because some of its cars also don't score highly.

[Gobes32]

If I remember the EcoLPI Falcon developed 201gms of Co2 and the state governments requirements were 200 or less? Or something to that effect. The scrapping of the green guide says to me the greens time in federal power is coming to an end. :-)

[wrongwaynorris]

The scrapping of the green guide says to me the greens time in federal power is coming to an end.

Cannot happen soon enough

[mike_nofx]

*flawed.

[pursuit2359]

Although the star ratings are being dropped, I'm assuming the Green Vehicle Guide website will continue. Because that's a resource where consumers can get the information which is being used to justify dropping the star ratings...

[prydey]

Originally Posted by Gaz

Feel similar with ANCAP, you get a start for seat belt reminders? ANCAP should purely be based on how protected you are in a crash if you are using all features as legally required.

its about passive safety. trying to prevent an accident or injuries in the first place. some people need a little chime to remind them to put on their seatbelt. yep, 2012 and people still drive without seatbelts. if you aren't wearing one, an airbag won't save you.

i agree with the scrapping of the green vehicle guide, but ancap is ok for now. they just need to raise the limit above 5 stars, as most modern cars are achieving that rating now. have to give them something higher to aim for.

[jpd80]

The star ratings were also based on emission levels achieved, "beyond Euro 6" vehicles where given higher star ratings
which heavily disadvantaged Ford when it came to winning government fleet contracts.

[2011G6E]

Good.
The only thing that should be on the windscreen is the liters per hundred k's...basically, I couldn't care less if the CO2 fell out of the exhaust pipe in 10kg blocks every five kilometers, as long as the car was nice to drive and got great fuel economy...I suspect a lot of people are the same. When I look at a new car, I caste a glance over the sticker on the window and see the fuel economy (just as a guide, I know they're a bit rubbery). What I have never looked at as a comparison is the CO2 figures. When I first heard about the four cylinder Falcon, I wondered what fuel economy it would get...I didn't agonise over what the CO2 emissions were going to be like.

[Joe5619]

Does this now mean the Ecoboost Falcon can now be bought by the NSW government & they can't use the current excuse for not having them on their "allowed" list?

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by Joe5619

Does this now mean the Ecoboost Falcon can now be bought by the NSW government & they can't use the current excuse for not having them on their "allowed" list?

Possibly...one would hope so. Queensland quite a while ago said that they would buy "four cylinder cars" as government vehicles, meaning we now have the sea of Camrys that infest the place with Q plates. It should be good enough to say "it's a four cylinder and gets X ltrs/100km", and that's it, without pandering to green idiots complaining about carbon dioxide.

[mik]

the co2 reading, does anyone actually take notice of that when buying a car other than Gov bodies that have to? it would be the furthermost thing from my mind,
litres per 100 by all means.

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by mik

the co2 reading, does anyone actually take notice of that when buying a car other than Gov bodies that have to? it would be the furthermost thing from my mind,
litres per 100 by all means.

Exactly...even the most motoring-illiterate person walking in off the street to buy "a new car" who wouldn't have a clue about cubic capacities, ABS, or DSC would want to know what the fuel economy of it is like.
A small percentage of people care about the 0-100 time or the quarter time of the car and the horsepower of the engine...but I would bet the percentage of people who ask about the CO2 emissions of their prospective purchase would be down in the single digits...the very low single digits...

Most people care about price, features, fuel economy, rego costs (in states like Queensland where there's a big difference between a four, a six, and an eight), warrantee, and trade in. Putting meaningless crap on there like CO2 emissions that simply have to cost someone somewhere money to test and administer is just plain stupid.

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by Joe5619

Does this now mean the Ecoboost Falcon can now be bought by the NSW government & they can't use the current excuse for not having them on their "allowed" list?

hmmmmm.....could be...

The Federal Government plans to abolish star ratings on the Green Vehicle Guide following pressure from Ford, whose locally made "eco" models developed with $42 million of taxpayer money don't meet some government purchasing requirements.

....

[GK]

Let's hope that Ford get a squillion orders for the LPI Falcon and the EB Falcon and Mondeo.

GK

[GK]

Originally Posted by wrongwaynorris

The scrapping of the green guide says to me the greens time in federal power is coming to an end.

Cannot happen soon enough

Amen brother!

GK

[Buntz]

Another article biased against Ford. Oh the reduced mentality of people these days... makes me want to cry.

Holden supports them, and so do most of the industry... but lets make it about Ford.

And how do we like eco in quotation marks? It makes me livid is what it does.

[DRU842]

This is a poorly written, under researched article but typical of Australian media writing. There has been no attempt at a balanced presentation of the facts and no detail as to why the industry feels there is an need for change.
NB. That VW is unhappy about the classification of diesel passenger cars in the current classification.
Ford is rightly concerned that two significant engine investments, the diesel in the Territory and the 4 Cylinder Falcon - both fully Euro compliant - do not make the grade under the current ratings.
At the most basic level the current standard does NOT take into account the 'greenness' of production conditions of batteries for electric / hybrid vehicles nor the transport of imported vehicles to this market.