Less than a year after pulling out of Australia and killing the Holden brand, GM's announcement today that it is going all-electric is no coincidence, according to the Electric Vehicle Council.
GM made its announcement today, one year after formally killing off the Holden brand, and several years after pulling out of Australian manufacturing.
Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Behyad Jafari said the move underscored just how out of step Australia currently is with the rest of the world on electric vehicles.
"It's no coincidence that GM decided to pull out of Australia shortly before making this announcement," Mr Jafari said.
"The rational view for GM to form is that Australia is a low priority nation for its all-electric future.
"Not only are we one of the only countries not to enforce fuel efficiency standards, we are the only nation proposing brand new punitive taxes on electric vehicles instead incentives.
"The unimaginative and cynical approach our politicians have taken to electric vehicles in recent years means Australia is being left behind as the rest of the auto industry zooms ahead.
"On current policy settings we are being left behind as the world accelerates toward electric vehicles.
"GM's announcement underscores how fallacious the argument is that we can sit on our hands and just let the electric vehicle revolution happen to us. Other nations will jump ahead and capture all the benefits of the electric vehicle revolution and Australia will be left languishing decades behind.
"We need our politicians to wake up now and start investing in stimulating and encouraging the transition to electric vehicles before it's too late."
