Funding to encourage ongoing investment and innovation in the Australian automotive industry
Automotive Transformation Scheme (ATS)Last Updated: 25 February 2022
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Automotive Transformation Scheme (ATS)
What you get?
You can receive cash payments to cover eligible investment in research and development, and plant and equipment. You can also receive cash payments for activities related to the production of motor vehicles, engines and engine components.
Who is this for?
You must be an Australian motor vehicle producer (MVP) or you must be a non-MVP. a non-MVP includes the following; Automotive Component Producer (ACP); Automotive Machine Tool and Automotive Tooling Producer (AMTP); or Automotive Service Provider (ASP).
Overview
You can claim assistance up to:
- 50% of the value of eligible investment in research and development
- 15% of the value of eligible investment in plant and equipment
If you’re a motor vehicle producer, you can also claim assistance for allowable production of:
- motor vehicles for local and export markets
- engines and engine components for local and export markets
Registered participants will receive quarterly cash payments.
ATS funding
The ATS has capped assistance of $1 billion from 2016 to 2020.
Yearly funding allocation:
- 55% will be available for motor vehicle producers (MVPs)
- 45% will be for automotive businesses that are not motor vehicle producers (non-MVPS)
We modulate payments to make sure we don’t exceed the year’s available funding (see modulation rates). You can't receive funding exceeding 5% of your previous year’s reported total sales value for automotive goods and services. If you’re in an eligible start-up period, funding will not exceed 15% of your eligible start-up investment.
A further $337 million is available in uncapped assistance to motor vehicle producers.
Eligibility
What are the eligibility criteria?
Applications for registration in the ATS are open to:
- Australian motor vehicle producers (MVPs)
- Australian automotive component producers (ACPs)
- Australian automotive machine tool and automotive tooling producers (AMTPs)
- Australian automotive service providers (ASPs)
Businesses including individual companies or a group of companies can apply.
Motor vehicle producers
You must either:
- produce at least 30,000 motor vehicles annually in Australia, or
- produce at least 30,000 engines annually in Australia.
Automotive component producers
- You must produce at least one kind of automotive component in Australia for use as original equipment in at least 30,000 motor vehicles or engines annually, and
- The production value for that component must be at least $500,000 in the previous 12 months
Or:
- You must produce automotive components in Australia for use as original equipment with a production value of at least $500,000 annually, and
- The production value must be at least 50% of the value of all automotive components produced by you in that period.
Automotive machine tool and automotive tooling producers
- You must produce automotive machine tools or automotive tooling in Australia with a production value of at least $500,000 annually, and
- At least 50% of that production value must be for tools and tooling used to produce original equipment.
Automotive Service Providers
- You must provide automotive services in Australia with a production value of at least $500,000 a year, and
- At least 50% of that production value was for services related to production of motor vehicles or original equipment
Applications for registration may also be assessed on forward sales and production values.
If you do not meet the eligibility criteria
You may seek Ministerial permission to apply for registration in the national interest. The details of how to apply are in Customer Guideline 4 – Registration in the national interest.
Applying
How do you apply?
The Automotive Transformation Scheme (ATS) is closed to applications.
Open all
button toggle all accordionsHow we assess your application?
What happens next?
Need help?
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