Electric vehicles a bright spot in dismal 2020 for new car sales

The worst year for the car industry since 2003 delivered a bumper year for electric and hybrid vehicles, but utes and SUVs continued to top the charts.

The worst year for the car industry since 2003 has delivered a bumper year for the electric and hybrid vehicle market, but industry figures are warning new taxes may stall any acceleration of clean car market movement in 2021.

The end-of-year data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries revealed total sales across the car market fell 13.7 per cent in 2020.

The industry only managed to sell 916,968 vehicles across 2020, in a horror year for the car market, which came with the hit dealt by General Motors announcing it would end the Holden brand in Australia.

The pandemic and resulting economic fallout played havoc with the Australian car market early in the year, with sales falling off a cliff.

But the reopening of Victoria and broader economic recovery delivered a December dividend for the motor industry, with sales across the market 13.5 higher than the same time in 2019, with 95,652 vehicles sold.

This bumper month came despite the festive season and followed a similar jump in November when sales grew 12.4 per cent higher than the same time in 2019, after a torrid October.

Toyota was the best performer in the car market, taking in 22.3 per cent of all sales for 2020.

The Toyota HiLux retained pole position as the most popular car in the market, dominating the light commercial vehicle space.

Commercial vehicles took out 22.4 per cent of the market, but SUVs were the continued winner.

One in two cars sold in 2020 was an SUV, with 454,701 hitting the road in 2020.

Passenger vehicle sales tanked 29.7 in 2020, falling to only one in four new cars sold.

But hybrid and EV sales electrified the market. Sales of electric vehicles increased 16.2 per cent in 2020, however the true scale is likely to be far higher as Tesla does not supply its sales figures. Hybrid vehicle sales increased 93.7 per cent, in a signal heralded by the car market as a sign of future portents.

Utes like the 2020 Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux and Isuzu D-Max continue to be popular with Australian buyers. Picture: Thomas Wielecki

FCAI chief Tony Webber said the industry was “cautiously optimistic” the trends of car sales were a sign the market was turning around after 23 months of declining sales to November 2020.

“We see hybrid vehicles as the natural progression for many for the adoption of electric vehicles,” he said.

“These vehicles send a clear message that low emission vehicles are the path of the future.”

However, Mr Webber noted the industry’s opposition to recent moves to tax electric vehicle road use so early in the industry’s expansion.

Mr Webber said many countries would have almost half their road fleets as electric by 2025.

“With this in mind perhaps the state government could stop slapping random taxes on electric vehicles,” he said.

“Good public policy would perhaps be to nurture rather than tax these electric vehicles.”

The view was seconded by Toyota Australia CEO Matthew Callachor.

“It seems early to start putting taxes on these vehicles,” he said.

“It’s inconsistent state to state. It’s too early to do this but there certainly needs to be a broader perspective on the future of road usage tax into the future.”