Tesla quits as member of peak Australian motoring body over emissions claims – report

Tesla has suddenly terminated its membership within the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) – the country's peak motoring organisation, which is made up of nearly all major car companies.

According to a report from ABC News, Tesla has accused the FCAI of making "demonstrably false" and deceiving statements to the Federal Government – and only representing other car brands within the motoring lobby seeking to delay emissions regulations.

"Tesla is concerned that the FCAI has engaged in behaviours that are likely to mislead or deceive Australian consumers," the electric-car brand reportedly wrote in the letter to the FCAI.

The automaker is disputing claims made by the FCAI in its submission to the Australian Government regarding the proposed New Vehicle Emissions Standard (NVES), which aims to bring a stepped reduction in tailpipe pollution from 2025.

In its submission, the FCAI claimed the NVES would significantly increase the price of popular utes and SUVs.

"Tesla is also concerned that it is inappropriate for the FCAI to foreshadow or coordinate whether and how competitor brands implement price changes in response to environmental regulations such as the NVES."

In its own submission to the government, Tesla said it was inappropriate for the FCAI to only represent members of the organisations that sought to delay NVES, according to newspaper The Guardian.

Under the proposed regulations, car companies would be given credits for all zero- and low-emissions vehicles, while those selling higher-emissions vehicles – like utes and SUVs – will either need to buy credits or risk being fined.

Tesla has asked the FCAI to correct its "false" claims, and has reportedly referred the group to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for suspicion of being involved in price implementation strategies between competitive car brands.

The Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) – which counts Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Hyundai, Volvo, Polestar, BYD, Renault, Jaguar Land Rover, MG, LDV, Volkswagen Group, and Tesla as members – released a statement in late February accusing the FCAI of being dishonest in its submission to the government.

"Anyone who knows anything about how efficiency standards actually work across the globe would recognise the FCAI’s public claims about price are not honest or credible," EVC CEO Behyad Jafari said in a written statement.

"You won’t hear any actual car maker echo the FCAI’s claims because they know their credibility would be shredded if they did."

It appears Tesla's decision to leave the FCAI will spell the end for its monthly reporting of its sales data, which occurs through the motoring body's VFACTS reports on the third business day of each month.

Prior to Tesla agreeing to submit sales data to VFACTS each month, its deliveries in Australia were only reported through voluntary submissions to the Electric Vehicle Council – as well as investigative reporting by Drive, sourcing information from state and territory government bodies.