‘Australians deserve better choices of better cars’: Bowen slams ‘silly scare campaigns’

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has hit out at the car industry for their “silly scare campaigns” over vehicle efficiency standards because Australians deserve “better choices of better cars”. Last week, the federal government put the industry on notice after releasing a roadmap to improving fuel efficiency and reducing emissions. “The time for sort of silly scare campaigns is over,” Mr Bowen said at a press conference in Western Sydney on Saturday. “I say to the car industry, 85 per cent of cars sold around the world are sold under vehicle efficiency standards. “It’s time your Australian customers had the same rights. “If these rights are good enough for customers and motorists in the United States, Canada, in New Zealand, in Europe, in China, then they are right for Australian motorists as well. “Australians deserve better choices of better cars, and car manufacturers will be obliged to provide those better choices under these reforms.”