Car manufacturers failing to meet Australian emissions standards Efficiency standard for new vehicles (NVES) will be named and shamed in 2026.
The NVES was launched on January 1, 2025. From July 1, 2025, fines will come into force for brands that exceed preset limits for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in their model series.
The first “Performance Period” began on January 1, 2025 and ends on December 31, 2025.
The NVES regulator says it will publish the interim result, which it calls the “interim emissions value” (IEV), for this period in February 2026.
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Brands that have sold vehicles that exceed the CO2 limits for light passenger vehicles will have the opportunity to offset these with lower-emission vehicles in 2026 and 2027.
December 31, 2027 will be the last day automakers can “extinguish units against the 2025 ‘final emissions value’ (FEV).”
The first penalties will be calculated and officially imposed based on the FEV in 2028, three years after the introduction of the NVES.
NVES has been a contentious issue since it was first proposed, with the final two-tier system setting separate CO2 limits for smaller and larger vehicles.
This comes as the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux utes remain the most popular vehicles in Australia, with both models having topped the annual sales charts since 2015.
ToyotaAustralia’s best-selling vehicle brand since 2008 – and on track to remain at the top in 2025 – recently called on NVES to include hybrid vehicles in its targets.
This came just weeks before the European Commission issued a proposed change to previous plans for all new vehicles sold in Europe to be zero-emission from 2035, which had effectively banned internal combustion engine (ICE) cars.
The revised European regulations reduce the previous zero emissions value from 100 percent to 90 percent, effectively opening the door to the sale of gasoline and/or diesel-powered internal combustion engines in hybrid vehicles.
In Australia this includes brands Nissan And ford have responded to NVES with changes to the model range and price increases.
This is what Nissan Oceania boss Andrew Humberstone said Daily Sparkz The addition of its Ariya electric SUV to Nissan’s Australian lineup has been delayed for as long as possible, but was prompted by the launch of NVES in 2025 this year.
Similarly, Ford Australia noted that NVES was a factor in the $5,000 price increase of its entire Mustang range in mid-2025, with the sports car already announced for a further increase in 2026.
Ford simultaneously increased prices for its Ranger ute and Everest SUVs, but did not publicly mention that NVES was a factor in the respective price increases – nor in the removal of the 2.0-liter bi-turbo diesel four-cylinder engine offered in each case.
The engine, which had been disposed of in the United Kingdom in early 2025 due to emissions laws, was discontinued in Australia in November 2025.
Ford Australia has confirmed a single-turbo version of the engine as a new entry-level powertrain for the Ranger and Everest from mid-2026.
MORE: What the first federal emissions standard means for Australian car buyers
