Australians shunning petrol-powered cars for hybrid vehicles as bowser prices rise

Australians are buying more cars than ever but are increasingly choosing hybrid vehicles over petrol-powered cars due to rising costs at the bowser, new data by the Australian Automobiles Association shows.

Quarterly vehicle sales data released on Monday revealed a further uptick in demand for hybrid vehicles, a trend the industry believes reflects both the rising cost of living, as well as range anxiety and concerns over a lack of charging infrastructure affecting purely electric vehicles.

Broadly, total sales across all engine types rose by 10.25% in the three months to 30 June, from 292,944 to 312,889. This follows sales in 2023 setting an all-time record, with more than 1.2m vehicles delivered, according to the figures based on Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries data.

Sales of traditional petrol-fuelled cars, known as internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, rose by 3.13% over the quarter. However, because total sales of all vehicle types rose at a faster rate, the market share of ICE vehicles dropped from 78.16% to 75.47%.

The move from traditional ICE vehicles towards greener alternatives has been gradual but pronounced, with market share decreasing from 86.4% to 75.47% over the past 18 months.

Battery electric vehicles declined by 0.78%, from 25,552 to 25,353, representing a decline in market share from 8.72% to 8.10%. Battery electric vehicles had a peak in market share in the first quarter of 2024 when they represented 8.72% of national sales.

Hybrid vehicles continued to grow in popularity. Sales grew by 33.49%, with 46,727 sold in the three months to the end of June compared with 35,003 in the previous quarter.

The market share of hybrid vehicles rose from 11.95% to 14.93% in the quarter.

Plug-in hybrids – which have a battery that can be charged externally to limit reliance on petrol – also increased, gaining 1.49% market share in the three months to 30 June.

While this was up significantly from the previous quarter’s share of 1.17%, it was only slightly above the market share in the final quarter of 2023, when plug-in hybrids represented 1.47% of sales.

Just five hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles were sold nationally in the three months to 30 June 2024, up from two sales in the previous quarter.

Hybrids have now outsold electric vehicles over four consecutive quarters.