Kia Australia weighs in on recent EV taxes: 'You can't have state governments going off and doing their own thing'

At a media briefing in Sydney, Kia’s chief operating officer, Damien Meredith, has weighed in on the recently announced state EV taxes implemented in South Australia and Victoria.

Unlike Volkswagen’s representatives who recently told media that the taxes were “ridiculous” and that governments should “at very least remain impartial”, Mr Meredith agreed with the policies in principle, asking how it was fair that most mums and dads were paying the fuel excise every time they filled up their car, while the wealthy elite who could afford the upfront cost of a full EV didn’t even have to contribute to roads.

“I understand excise runs down into general revenue,” he clarified, “but it goes one way or another to help build roads.

“I have a problem with someone driving around in an EV who can afford to spend $150,000 but isn’t paying anything in regards to - let’s call it a road tax.

“We’ve got to have a complete review, It’s got to be a national review; you can’t have state governments going off and doing their own thing, on how we can settle this.

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“There’s got to be a strategy for the next ten, twenty, thirty years.”

But Mr Meredith said the brand was more interested in a national approach to keep the playing field more even for cars like Kia’s soon-to-arrive plug-in hybrid Sorento, which in Victoria at least will attract double taxes. One in the form of fuel excise, and the other in the form of the new two-cent per-kilometre EV tax for such vehicles.

Kia's Sorento will be the only vehicle in Australia with petrol, diesel, hybrid, and PHEV options (UK market vehicles pictured).

“That’s what I’m saying. Let’s get a strategy in place that’s fair and equitable for everybody,” Mr Meredith said, reiterating the brand’s position that going forward hybrids would be an important stepping-stone toward what he considered to be a distant electric future.

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Kia Australia is not a member of the EV council (unlike its sister brand, Hyundai), which also vehemently opposes EV taxes. The Victorian government has reportedly refused meeting requests with the council, which also counts Volkswagen Group, Telsa, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Nissan and Renault amongst its membership.

Kia also does not currently offer any electrified models in Australia, although that’s set to change in a big way during 2021 as the brand gears up to launch a plug-in hybrid and regular hybrid version of the Sorento, as well as its first EV, the e-Niro.

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But despite the e-Niro still not having a locked-in date for next year, Mr Meredith was adamant that he supported some form of taxes for EVs in principle: “The federal government is going to have to do something, because fuel excise is going to fall off a cliff.”