Media Releases



  • Safety Survey "Pack of Lies" - expert

    A leading road safety campaigner has
    savaged a recently released list of safe and unsafe second hand
    vehicles. The study, compiled by Australia’s Monash University Accident
    Research Center, claims to have used actual crash data to determine
    whether a type of vehicle is safe or unsafe. A leaflet based on the
    study is being widely distributed across Australia.

    Clive Matthew-Wilson, editor of the car buyer’s Dog & Lemon
    Guide, described the leaflet as “ a pack of lies without scientific
    basis.”

  • Expert issues warning over motorbikes

    Motorcycle riders are around 14 times more likely to be killed than a person driving a car.

    The recent dramatic rise in motorscooter sales will inevitably mean a big increase in road deaths and injuries, says a leading road safety campaigner.

    Clive Matthew-Wilson, editor of the car buyer’s Dog & Lemon Guide, warned today that motorcycle riders were around 14 times as likely to be killed than a person driving a car.

  • Electricity shortage raises new doubts about electric cars

    The current shortage of electricity raises further doubts about the viability of electric cars, says the car buyers’ Dog & Lemon Guide.

    “The Minister of Energy wants electric vehicles to gain a 5% market share by 2020, rising to 60 percent by 2040. If that many electric vehicles were in use today, then New Zealand would probably not have enough energy to power them. Worse, we would probably be forced to burn fossil fuels in order to power these cars”

  • Electricity shortage raises new doubts about electric cars

    The current shortage of electricity raises further doubts about the viability of electric cars, says the car buyers’ Dog & Lemon Guide.

    “The Minister of Energy wants electric vehicles to gain a 5% market share by 2020, rising to 60 percent by 2040. If that many electric vehicles were in use today, then New Zealand would probably not have enough energy to power them. Worse, we would probably be forced to burn fossil fuels in order to power these cars”

  • UN urges caution over biofuels

    United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon has acknowledged a growing concern over the environmental effects of biofuels.

    Speaking in Hungary this week, Ban Ki-moon said:

    "We need to be concerned about the possibility of taking land or replacing arable land because of these biofuels."

    Ki-Moon also said recently:

    “Clearly, biofuels have great potential for good and, perhaps, also for harm.”

  • ‘Green’ car conference a sham

    New Zealanders shouldn’t be fooled by quick fixes to the current energy crisis, says the car buyers’ Dog & Lemon Guide.

    Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson says yesterday’s EECA Biofuels and Electric Vehicles Conference in Wellington appeared to be a thinly disguised promotion for energy wastage.

  • ‘Green’ cars are mostly a sham

    Australians shouldn’t be fooled by quick fixes to the current energy crisis, says the car buyers’ Dog & Lemon Guide.

    Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson says most ‘green’ cars are worse for the environment than the technologies they replaced.

    “If there was an easy way of powering the world’s cars on some alternative energy source, we’d be all for it. However, the current hard reality is that most of the world’s alternative energy industry is based on quick fixes to the current system, and many of them are an outright scam.”

  • ‘Green’ car conference a sham

    New Zealanders shouldn’t be fooled by quick fixes to the current energy crisis, says the car buyers’ Dog & Lemon Guide.

    Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson says yesterday’s EECA Biofuels and Electric Vehicles Conference in Wellington appeared to be a thinly disguised promotion for energy wastage.

  • ‘Green’ cars are mostly a sham

    Australians shouldn’t be fooled by quick fixes to the current energy crisis, says the car buyers’ Dog & Lemon Guide.

    Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson says most ‘green’ cars are worse for the environment than the technologies they replaced.

    “If there was an easy way of powering the world’s cars on some alternative energy source, we’d be all for it. However, the current hard reality is that most of the world’s alternative energy industry is based on quick fixes to the current system, and many of them are an outright scam.”

  • Time to seize cellphones used by drivers

    The police should have the power to seize cellphones being used by drivers while a car is in motion, says a leading road safety expert.

    Clive Matthew-Wilson, editor of the car buyer’s Dog & Lemon Guide, says that simply banning cellphones won’t work because many users are prepared to risk a fine rather than miss a call. However, says Matthew-Wilson, most cellphone users would hate to lose their cellphone and this fear would eventually modify their behaviour.

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