Changes To Sevs In The Pipeline

[Iron Chef]

Ok I just got word back from my ‘mole’ inside DoTaRS that there are some MAJOR changes planned for SEVS regarding vehicle emissions, and what’s worse, some of them will be retrospective and will apply to cars already complied!

1) Like the NZ import scheme, SEVS eligibility will soon be limited to cars that meet the Japanese ‘TA’ emissions scheme or later if they’re ex-Japan (that means no cars prior to about 2001 will be eligible for import). For the Skyline range, this will rule out all R32s, all R33s and virtually all R34s (did any R34s meet TA regs or were they all GF?), but V35 and V36 will still be ok. Evos prior to Evo 7 will be out. Supras will all be out. JZX100 Chasers will be canned, but JZX110s will be ok. US-built vehicles are not affected because their emissions regs are stricter than ours anyway.

2) Cars ALREADY imported under SEVS will be tracked down via NEVDIS (the national database for vehicle identification) and owners contacted. The plan is to make owners submit their vehicles for annual emissions inspections to ensure that their vehicles meet the regulations they were complied under. Cars complied under the old scheme prior to SEVS will be exempt, as will cars imported under the pre-’89 rule.

3) The plan is to move SEVS more in the green-car direction, so they will soon allow hybrid models of cars already sold here in Australia to be imported – for example, the Tarago is sold in Japan as the Estima Hybrid, that will be allowed for import.

Well there goes my business, unless I move to Nimbin and use the tree huggers as my new target market...

Edited March 31, 2011 by Iron Chef

[rad100]

April fools?

coz if not thats devastating

[rhys5169]

any ideas on timing for this chef? i.e. can we go import crazy now on pre 2001 cars until this is made official?

better be an april fools f**ker

Edited March 31, 2011 by rhys5169

[pistol-pete]

April fools?

uh yeah

[noone]

WTF? Is this as bad as it sounds?

edit: Didnt realise the date

Edited March 31, 2011 by noone

[Damo_R34]

any ideas on timing for this chef? i.e. can we go import crazy now on pre 2001 cars until this is made official?

better be an april fools f**ker

If its true tho Rhys, will it be worth owning an import that you can modify only basically so it passes emissions once a year?

[ZED X]

APRIL FOOLS.

[Iron Chef]

On the upside, it's gonna do wonders for the resale of imported cars already here...

[Nee-san]

If your moving to Nimbin chef there are probably more lucrative enterprises other then the developing green car market

[HR32GTS 4DOOR]

This is one funny April fools joke mate

[Iron Chef]

If your moving to Nimbin chef there are probably more lucrative enterprises other then the developing green car market

True - cars would be the wrong kind of green to be selling...

[Iron Chef]

[Guest]

Well it is actually closer to the truth then an april fools joke, many submissions (LINK) have been put forward for a few years now including as below from the Australian Automobile Association about 3 year old max cars to be imported.

Then you have the current submission LINK of the NSW MTA (image below) that if you are not a dealer you should only be allowed to import one car a year (it was one car every 2 years).

Its coming that is guaranteed, just look at the changes to Pre 1989 model cars and Personal Imports.

[Blitz_boy]

I would have kept that one going for a little longer, you would have seen a big spike in your business!

[nsm034]

f**k that was shiting my pants . lol

[Iron Chef]

For the record, PRIMO passed on a copy-and-paste of my info to my agent in Japan, and from there it went around the auctions like wildfire, till I got a panicked call from another agent I use in Tokyo asking what the hell was going on! Evidently April Fools isn't a big thing in Japan, making them all ripe for the picking haha

[Mr Eps]

hahaha i was going to say "i dont think the japanese celebrate April fools dude"

[Chris Rogers]

For the record, PRIMO passed on a copy-and-paste of my info to my agent in Japan, and from there it went around the auctions like wildfire, till I got a panicked call from another agent I use in Tokyo asking what the hell was going on! Evidently April Fools isn't a big thing in Japan, making them all ripe for the picking haha

sounds like you got a VERY STRONG bite out of it.

mind you ADR 79/02 is going to shake a few people. anything after 2008 ( I *think*) has to pass that one to gain entry.

as for the emmisions gag - like that one. reminded me of the drive by emmissions tests in california.

[Iron Chef]

I think DoTaRS are taking a closer look at it Chris, particularly as Japan has changed its testing procedures for emissions in recent times to be more like what they do here.

The biggest issue is the cost of the test itself for late model cars, I've heard figures of $30-40K bandied about, which makes it bloody hard to recoup those costs without charging a crazy amount for compliance. Ideally, we want DoTaRS to recognise the Japanese testing procedures as being valid here, once that's done, it will be a matter of providing the Japanese emissions paperwork to pass, same as they do with cars from the US now.

Edited April 2, 2011 by Iron Chef