What happens with cars in 2021 will largely depend on what happens with the success of vaccines for you-know-what. A great deal of momentum was lost in the plague year with factory shutdowns, poor consumer confidence, reigned-in research-and-development budgets and, not strictly related to COVID-19, growing uncertainty among consumers about The Big Question.

The Big Question is: should I buy now or wait a bit longer and make the switch to a BEV, or Battery Electric Vehicle? The Slightly Less Big Question is: should I go halfway and buy a PHEV, which is to say a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle? This will drive for maybe 40 or 50 kilometres on pure electricity, but has a conventional engine to back this up for holidays and long drives on the weekend. There are far more PHEVs on the Australian market now than BEVs.