The Transport Ministry has recommended to the Government that all cars sold in New Zealand carry labels identifying how much fuel they consume.
In its report to Transport Minister Mark Gosche on improving the fuel efficiency of New Zealand cars, the ministry recommended fast-tracking mandatory fuel consumption labelling of all newand used cars.
The labels would provide information on how much fuel cars consume in standard tests and would have to be displayed at the point of sale.
The ministry estimated that labelling would improve fuel consumption by 2 per cent to 3 per cent.
Fuel consumption labels are mandatory in Europe and Japan.
The ministry said labelling would give car buyers information not otherwise readily available and would encourage them to choose more fuel-efficient vehicles.
The labels could be the first step to introducing fuel efficiency goals for New Zealand's car fleet and would help to ensure that NZ did not become a dumping ground for gas-guzzling vehicles.
The ministry also recommended the establishment of a national monitoring system of fuel efficiency of vehicles brought into NZ.
However, it did not recommend following other countries in introducing financial incentives to car manufacturers who produced fuel-efficient cars, and penalties for those with higher-than-average consumption.
The ministry said that because no fuel consumption data was collected here, it was not known whether the New Zealand fleet was more or less efficient than overseas vehicles.
A spokeswoman for Mr Gosche said the minister agreed in principle to the introduction of labelling.
