The need for incentives to be used to get more car manufacturers to employ green technology has been questioned by one automakers' group.

New Zealand's Motor Industry Association has claimed that the global industry is already moving towards using green alternatives, leaving new incentives and penalties designed to increase the use of technologies such as biofuels and more efficient diesel powered vehicles ineffective.

"The government must resist any temptation to pick winners and losers by offering incentives or imposing penalties," explains Perry Kerr, chief executive of the MIA.

He added: "This would only lead to short term distortion of the market which would cause more long term problems and ultimately cost all vehicle owners."

The New Zealand MIA believes that the industry is already developing greener technologies and would be doing so without any interference from governments because of the demand in the market for more fuel efficient vehicles.

As fuel prices continue to rise, the demand from consumers for fuel efficient vehicles and for diesel engines has grown rapidly, meaning that targets imposed by governments are unlikely to have a large effect on companies whose policies are dictated by market forces and public demand.

India recently announced plans to invest heavily in hydrogen transport, so that it could get one million hydrogen cars on the road by 2020, but the car industry is concerned that such announcements may be unachievable because there may not be the demand from consumers.


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