Polestar exec calls for change to ute tax

News.com.au

3 days ago

The boss of one of Australia's greenest car companies has called for an end to tax breaks for utes that have become the nation's best-selling cars.
Scott Maynard, managing director of Polestar in Australia, says lucrative tax concessions for high-riding utes have gone too far, resulting in taxpayers subsidising cars that are harmful to the environment.
Large four-wheel-drive utes can be exempt from luxury car tax and fringe benefits tax that apply to other vehicles.
Maynard says the fringe benefits tax concession 'continues to disproportionately serve the sale of dual cab utes and not what I would consider to be a far more progressive style of transportation, which is electric vehicles'.
'Consider that three of the top five selling cars in Australia for the entire first half [of the year] were dual cab utes and their variants,' he said.
'We've now got more than one and a half times the dual cab ute to tradie ratio, which doesn't make sense.
'If you consider some of the positioning of some of those particular vehicles, which are clearly no longer tools of trade, I don't think it's a difficult jump to make to put that on the fact that they've enjoyed tax let off since 2000.
'Wouldn't it great to see benefits like that afforded to vehicles that are now cheaper to own um easier to live with and better for the environment?'
Rod Campbell, research director at The Australia Institute, made headlines in 2024 when pointing out the 'considerable costs on society' of subsidising large utes such as the RAM 1500 and Ford F-150.
The Australian public is subsidising big, dumb utes by hundreds of millions of dollars each year,' he said.
'These vehicles are damaging roads, reducing safety and increasing emissions, yet they are given a massive tax break.
'Removing the luxury car tax exemption will not affect most ute drivers, particularly tradies.
'Instead it targets those buying large luxury vehicles, worth sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars, for personal use.
'Economics 101 says that governments should tax things they want less of, and subsidise things they want more of, and it is stunning that the Australian Government seems to want more big, dumb utes.'
Maynard's views differ from peers at the top of the car industry.
Polestar has effectively split from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, a collective that lobbies on behalf of member companies such as Toyota, Ford and Mitsubishi – brands that rely heavily on the sales of utes such as the HiLux, Ranger and Triton.
But Polestar doesn't have a ute.
It doesn't have any cars that require petrol or diesel fuel – every Polestar sold in Australia is a pure electric vehicle.
Maynard said the brand's all-in stance on electric vehicles 'does open a window for us' as rival brands water down their commitment to EVs.
The brand has recorded an uptick in interest from customers who were considering plug-in electric vehicles before a tax break expired on April 1, pushing them toward EVs.
'Anecdotally, I feel like I'm talking to more and more customers that say now that's done,' he said.
'At a function last night, I spoke to three people at a table that said, 'you know, we were squaring up for a PHEV [but] we will probably just go full electric now'.
'And I know that there was a lot of people that were trying to get their PHEV deals secured before that FBT incentive [expired].'