Kia to throttle supply of petrol cars to help meet Australia’s new-vehicle emissions rules
Kia has become the first brand to admit it will need to pull the handbrake on stocks of less efficient, non-turbo petrol cars – and steer customers to hybrids – under imminent CO2 caps for new vehicles. Kia customers may soon face artificial wait times on less fuel-efficient, high-emissions, non-turbo petrol cars and SUVs to help their maker avoid costly fines for not meeting new CO2 rules. The South Korean car giant will begin limiting stock of non-turbocharged petrol models – such as the base four-cylinder Sportage or V6 Sorento – and directing customers into hybrids to assist its average. It says it has no plans to axe any engine type, and intends to retain a mix of petrol, diesel, hybrid and electric power over the coming years as customers demand them. However, the petrol engines in question are lighter than equivalent diesel or petrol-electric hybrid variants – yet emit more CO2 – so they are most at risk under the rules, which calculate emissions targets based on v...
