Australia’s biggest importer of second-hand electric vehicles (EVs) plans to drastically increase the number of cars it brings here, following a $10 million cash injection.
The Tasmania-founded Good Car Company imports second-hand EVs to Australia as parallel imports, also known as grey imports, from Japan and the UK to accelerate EV uptake locally.
The Good Car Company expects this multi-million dollar investment to help it increase the number of second-hand cars it imports locally from 200, to approximately 2000, annually.
The $10 million in funding comes from Australian philanthropic venture company Boundless, backed by Australian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.
Good Car Company co-founders (left to right) – Sam Whitehead, Anthony Broese van Groeno & Anton Vikstrom
Canva co-founder Cameron Adams and ex-Canva mentor Lisa Miller have also committed an additional investment of $1 million to the Australian start-up.
The Good Car Company currently imports a number of second-hand EVs that aren’t offered locally, such as certain Nissan Leaf hatchback variants, as well as Nissan eNV200 and Peugeot e-Expert commercial vans.
These second-hand EVs imported by The Good Car Co. to Australia from Japan and UK are sold on their website, as well as through a series of community-based “bulk-buy” campaigns around the country.
The starting price for one of these imported second-hand EVs is claimed to be $20,000, though the company indicates that, through collective buying at bulk-buy campaigns, it can cut costs.
Nissan eNV200
All of the second-hand imported EVs that are sold by the Good Car Company are offered with “full consumer protection”.
The company currently offers a seven-day return policy, a tested high-voltage battery, a battery and mechanical warranty with lengths that depend on the model, 12 months of roadside assist through NRMA, servicing, and recall notifications.
The Good Car Company anticipates that additional second-hand EVs will be available in Australia for purchase of their website from early 2023.
A Good Car Company spokesperson said that it had initially experienced some “teething issues” in regard to changing parallel import regulations, but has since smoothed out the problems.
Peugeot e-Expert
The spokesperson said the company has also experienced some queries from bodies such as the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) about its business, but that the company view was that it was helping to grow EV uptake in Australia.
In addition to selling imported second-hand EVs, the Good Car Company offers new EVs that are sourced from official local channels for fleet purchase, leasing and subscription models.
New EVs the Good Car Company currently offers to fleet buyers include the Polestar 2 high-riding liftback and Hyundai Kona Electric SUV.
The Good Car Company said that in order to accelerate wider EV adoption, the Federal Government proposed fuel efficiency standards will be critical.
The latest development on this front is the Federal Government released a consultation paper designed to shape the country’s first National Electric Vehicle Strategy.
Although a number of carmakers, such as the Volkswagen Group, have said their head offices would rather send supply-constrained EVs to regions where they get fines for exceeding average CO2 levels across their fleet, EVs took a record 7.7 per cent share of the Australian new car market in September.
MORE: National EV Strategy: Government releases consultation paper
MORE: Australia’s top-selling EVs in record September
