Stability Plan 'unstable'

The Age

Wednesday May 21, 2008

Andrew Heasley

THE Victorian Government's plan that all new cars from 2011 must have electronic stability control fitted in order to be registered is unworkable in its present form, the head of Australia's fourth-most-popular car brand has told Drive.

Managing director of Mazda Australia Doug Dickson says if Victoria goes it alone with the plan, it would make the situation too complex for car companies.

"I think we agree with the direction they're (the Government's) taking; the difficulty is the way they're going about it. It could result in cars being imported into Australia that are fully compliant with Australian Design Regulations, yet not be able to be registered in certain states."

Effectively, cars would have to be uniquely specified for Victoria's small market, making product planning difficult.

"If there really is going to be such a push, it really has to be done on a national level," Mr Dickson says. "We need certainty, we need cost effectiveness. The last thing any factory wants to do is make cars for five or six different markets in Australia."

Mr Dickson's comments were made at the launch of Mazda's latest entrant to the market - a three-door version of its widely regarded light car, the Mazda2, which arrives in showrooms this month in two trim levels, the base-model Neo and the Maxx (pictured), which has more equipment. The three-door starts at $15,750 for the Neo five-speed manual, undercutting the five-door model by $750. Like the five-door version, the new models are powered by a 76 kW, 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine mated to a five-speed manual or optional four-speed automatic gearbox.

Mazda says manual versions use 6.4 L/100 km of regular unleaded and produce 152 g/km of CO2. -- ANDREW HEASLEY

© 2008 The Age

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