Hi and sorry for delay in replying however we have been at Oran Park for a few days.
Only the 1997 onwards Rover Mini had OEM SIB's however these were never tested to any standard, Japanese or European. Personal imports and “15 year old” imports (now pre 1989 imports) have to meet the standards of the State where they will be registered. In NSW for example PI’s don’t need SIB’s but all 88/89/90 models definitely do if originally presented in NSW at the point of 1st rego in Australia.
Under the old Low Volume Scheme (LVCS) the evidence for the SIB's only had to be assessed by an engineer and if they felt the bar meet the requirements they would be signed off. Under SEVS you have to physically test a car (or cars) to find out. The SEVS rules require 3 individual readings (measurements) as the door is being crushed. You must be within certain parameters for a pass. Whilst the LVCS ones would have passed the end result, the measurements to get there would not be within the regulations.... Confused yet!!
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I reckon all cars worldwide should be built to EU standards. They would then be legal in all countries. That solves the problem permanently.
This is the way most manufacturers are going.... with the exception of the USA. They don’t realise the rest of the world drives cars so therefore don’t worry about building cars to meet any other standards. If they continue along this path their major 3 automakers will lose many billions of dollars and require a government bailout that the US taxpayers will have to suffer for many, many years......
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when do you estimate to be able to sell cars to customers?
The majority of cars now will be cars that the customer sources themselves which we comply on their behalf. There will be occasions when we make cars available however this will be in the minority. In the past (under LVCS) we had stocks of car covering the various models however this was not always the best as the buyer of Mini's generally has a specific wish list. Of course, they're the buyer so we always did our best to accommodate this but sometimes we just didn’t have the specific car for them. If they can source their own car we can look after everything from the overseas transport and deregistration, shipping, domestic transport, compliance and even rego (in NSW).
As mentioned under SEVS only OEM parts (or tested, approved aftermarket parts) are allowed. Basically with the compliance this means OEM filters, charcoal canisters, cat converters (37/01), etc. Until we have all the parts here we cannot confirm a price for the compliance.
I hope the compliance should be finalised in around 3 – 4 weeks. At this point we will update our website with prices and more info.
I hope I've covered enough without overstepping the rules. Please feel free to contact us by email or phone if you need any other info.
Chris.
