Almost 11 percent of all cars on the road are 20 years or older and with fewer people upgrading their cars to newer models it throws light on the rising road toll and the fact that many motorists are driving older less safe cars with higher exhaust emissions. Petrol powered cars last year represented 67.3 per cent of the vehicle population, down 1.4 percent compared to 2022 while diesel vehicles actually increased from 28.3 percent of the nation’s vehicle fleet to 29 per cent over the same period.

As of January 2024, 21.74 million vehicles were registered across the nation, up by 2.7 percent on January 2023, of these, 15.7 million were passenger vehicles (non-commercial or recreational vehicles). Of these, 159,460 were battery electric (EV) or hydrogen accounting for 1 per cent of all currently registered passenger vehicles on our roads. However, petrol electric hybrid vehicles (HEVS or PHEVS), as of January 2024, accounted for 3 per cent of all passenger cars in the country, a total of 481,400 vehicles, up 32 percent compared with the same time last year.

Official V-Facts new vehicle sales released this week show a new July record of 99,486 sales, up 2.7 percent on July 2023 which was the previous highest July on record. Business and Government segments were up 13.7 per cent and 37.5 per cent respectively, private sales however dipped by 4.2 per cent. The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries pointed out that, consistent with overseas trends, sales of hybrid vehicles (HEVs) were up 88.4 percent and plug-in hybrids (PHEVS) were up 128.9 percent compared with July 2023. Sales of battery electric vehicles on the other hand in July were 6.6 percent of the market, down from 7.0 per cent in July 2023. The hybrid performance is highlighted by the fact that Toyota’s RAV4 SUV was Australia’s top-selling vehicle in July with most being hybrid models – Toyota setting a monthly hybrid sales record, topping 12,686 sales, representing 55.9 per cent of its 22,705 July sales tally.