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The oversupply of golf estates has claimed another victim.
Johannesburg - The introduction of a green tax on vehicle-exhaust
gases will have a significant effect on the prices of Mercedes-Benz
vehicles.
Dr Hansgeorg Niefer, president and chief executive of Mercedes-Benz
South Africa, said the tax would add an average R5 000 to the
C-Class and an average R7 200 to the average cost of an E-Class.
A supplementary ad valorem excise duty on new passenger motor
vehicles, with a tax on carbon-dioxide emissions at a fixed rate of
R75 per gram/kilometre, was announced last month in the new budget.
Niefer says this tax, together with the increase in the fuel levy,
will be a heavy blow to consumers.
The fuel levy is being increased by 25.5c/litre.
The National Association of Automobile Manufacturerssays the green tax
will generally mean a 2% increase in vehicle prices.
The tax will apply from September 1.
Niefer believes that it is unfair to punish the client.
He is also unable to understand why government does not exert more
pressure on fuel companies to improve the quality of their fuel.
He reckons this will not happen if they are not forced to invest.
He says South Africa still has to be satisfied fuel at a Euro 2 level,
while fuel in countries like China, Brazil and India complies with
Euro 4 standards.
Euro 2 fuel has a sulphur content of 500 parts per million (ppm).
Niefer says South Africa will only phase in fuel with a sulphur
content of 50 ppm within six years.
Fuel with a sulphur content of 10 ppm, such as that used by the member
states of the European Union, will probably be available here only by
2020.
Anton Moldan, environmental adviser to the South African Petroleum
Industry Association, told Sake24 earlier this year that about R40bn
needs to be invested in local refineries for cleaner fuel.
Moldan said that only 11% of the vehicles in the South African vehicle
pool currently require cleaner fuel and for that reason the
importation of a quantity of cleaner fuels for local consumption is
being considered. This would be introduced at sufficient filling
stations to meet current needs.
- Sake24.com
For more business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.