Combustion engine car sales falling in Australia

The percentage of petrol and diesel cars sold in Australia is on a steady downward trajectory as the eco-conscious alternatives get more popular.

The proportion of petrol and diesel small cars on Australian roads is decreasing as the hyper-competitive EV and hybrid markets gain bigger footholds.

The latest quarterly Australian Automobiles Association data shows sales of new internal combustion engine light cars slipped from 78 per cent to 75 per cent of Australian sales in the second quarter of 2024.

Hybrid sales spiked by one-third - from 35,003 to 46,727 - and hybrid market share rose from 11.9 per cent to 14.9 per cent.

Hybrids make up about 15 per cent of new light cars sold in Australia. Photo: Supplied

EV sales numbers came down from record highs earlier this year. Battery electric vehicle sales fell from 25,552 to 25,353, and total market share decreased from the previous quarter’s record level of 8.72 per cent to 8.1 per cent.

“Sales figures over the past six quarters show a clear trend of growth for hybrids and (battery electric vehicles) and gradually shrinking (internal combustion engine) market share. But there have been significant quarterly fluctuations,” the Automobile Association analysis says.

Light commercial cars are still overwhelmingly diesel or petrol. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

In the first half of 2023, EVs outsold hybrids, but since then hybrids have outsold EVs in four consecutive quarters.

In the past 18 months, the share of new light vehicle sold which are petrol and diesel has fallen from 86.4 per cent to 75.4 per cent.

Plug-in hybrid vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles still only account for about 1.5 per cent of new light vehicles sold.

NSW Climate Change Minister Penny Sharpe checks out a charging station. Picture: NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Cars seen typically at worksites or commercial vehicles zipping around town are still overwhelmingly running on petrol or diesel with their internal combustion engines (ICE) though.

“In the June quarter, pure ICE vehicles still dominated the small car, small SUV and large SUV market segments with hybrids a distant second,” the analysis shows.

Petrol and diesel still runs more than 99 per cent of utes, more than 98 per cent of vans, and over 97 per cent of people movers sold, but only 18 per cent of medium-sized cars.

Nearly half (46 per cent) of new medium-sized cars sold are battery electric, and 27 per cent of large cars are electric. More than one-in-ten new medium-sized SUVs are electric too.

The $195,000 2024 Mercedes-Benz GLC 63 Hybrid. Picture: Supplied

Earlier this year the federal government weakened vehicle emissions standards rules to appease car makers who claimed the new laws would push up the price of some cars by thousands of dollars.

Enforcement of the standards was also pushed back six months to July 2025.

The changes will shift some car models from the stricter emissions limit for passenger vehicles to the more lenient standard for light commercial cars. Wagons like the Isuzu MU-X and Ford Everest will no longer have to meet the strictest fuel economy rules.

Confronted with uproarious cries of a “ute tax” from the opposition, the government also weakened emissions limits for all light commercial vehicles.

Last month the Victorian Emergency Services Minister announced the state’s first electric fire fighting truck would be arriving imminently from the production line in Europe.

“We’re extremely proud to introduce Victoria’s first electric fire truck to Fire Rescue Victoria as part of the modernisation of our vehicle fleet,” Fire Rescue Victoria Commissioner Gavin Freeman said at the time.

“We’ll be evaluating all aspects of the truck’s performance to help inform future decisions about the integration of electric fire appliances into our service.”