Toyota is seeking to have the current tax rebate on the purchase of hybrid cars extended. Executives from the Japanese car company met the Minister for Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan, yesterday and called on the Government to continue the €2,500 Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) rebate that is due to end this year.
A Toyota Ireland spokesperson, who travelled to Japan to attend the meeting, said the price of cars such as the Toyota Prius is set to rise next year unless the rebate is extended. Asked whether there were any plans to postpone this change, Ryan said it was a matter for the Department of Finance, but he supported the continued encouragement of cleaner car choices. “I drive a Prius myself, and it has been flawless,” he said. “Any change to VRT is a finance issue, but what I am really pleased about is that we have seen our average CO2 for new cars drop from 165g/km to 132g/km, and this is a phenomenal change.”
Ryan is visiting Japan to address a global telecommunications summit, but is using the visit to meet executives from Toyota, Mitsubishi and Nissan to discuss Irish plans to be at the forefront of electric car testing and development. Nissan, which launched its all-electric Leaf model in Tokyo yesterday, has already agreed to send 1,000 of the vehicles to Ireland from early next year.
Ryan said last night that he was “confident” of a memorandum of understanding with Toyota. “We need large enough numbers to develop scale, do the data and software management. Eventually we hope that prices will come down and the cars will become mainstream,” he said.
He added that he was meeting car-makers to ensure that Ireland got added value from its agreements with them, and to discuss the delivery of electric vehicles.
“Ireland is seen as a perfect test bed for these electric vehicles and this was a good chance to meet these companies and see their latest technological advances,” he said. “The areas of IT and software are so closely related to these new cars that it is a natural follow-on.”
The Irish delegation includes Ruth Freeman of Science Foundation Ireland, who said: “The new smart economy strategy is to have a very joined-up approach. If we’re going to be selling Ireland, we want to sell the whole approach.”
Ryan cited Denmark’s wind-power industry as an example of what can happen when the state gets behind a key technology early. “Once ESB has the experience of how this operates, it can go and sell it elsewhere – and that’s a real benefit to the state,” he said.
Toyota’s concern yesterday was reportedly to probe levels of state commitment. “We told them we have a utility that is going to do a national rollout, which is quite unique,” said Stephen O’Connor, Ryan’s special adviser.