General News
15 April, 2024
EVs take big slice of market
ELECTRIFIED vehicles accounted for nearly a quarter of the Australia car market in March.
Tesla’s fully-electric Model Y was third top seller (4379), behind Ford Ranger (5661) and Toyota RAV4 (5070) – of which hybrid models are most popular.
Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Tony Weber said battery electric vehicles made up 9.5 per cent of new vehicle sales up from 6.8 per cent in March 2023.
“Hybrid and plug-in hybrid sales increased compared with March 2023 recording a 14 per cent share compared with 6.0 per cent in 2023,” he said.
“Sales of electrified vehicles in March made up 23.5 per cent of the total market demonstrating the continuing evolution of technology and increasing consumer preference in response to the challenges of decarbonisation.”
Mr Weber said a fuel efficiency standard was long overdue.
“However, we remain concerned at the speed and magnitude of the change for both manufacturers and more importantly, consumers,” he said.
“The car makers will respond, however it will take time to develop new products, especially in the large SUV and light commercial segments, that meet expectations in terms of price, performance and emissions, noting these vehicles make up more than one third of new vehicle sales in Australia.
“We look forward to working with the government regarding the administration of the proposed NVES (New Vehicle Efficiency Standard) and the development of critical supporting activities such as the development of an effective national recharging network for electric vehicles.”
New vehicle sales in March were another record with the result of 109,647 surpassing the previous March record of 106,988 in 2018.
Mr Weber said the January to March result of 304,452 sales represented the best-ever first quarter for new vehicle sales, an increase of 13.2 per cent on the first quarter in 2023.
He said that it was remarkable that nine of the past 12 months had resulted in record sales results.
“Since April 2023, the industry had delivered 1,252,230 new vehicles to the market,” Mr Weber said.
