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Information technology'south official: Australians are withal committed to diesel cars

Despite carmakers ditching diesel in droves, one in six Australian drivers is behind the bike of a diesel fuel-powered auto.

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Despite car companies shifting their attentions elsewhere, a whopping 2.6 one thousand thousand Australians still bulldoze a diesel car – representing roughly 16 per cent of the nation's 16.two meg-strong fleet.

According to new Roy Morgan data, diesel is second only to petrol in popularity, with petrol cars making up fourscore per cent of the vehicles on Commonwealth of australia'due south roads.

These numbers come despite an increasing number of manufacturers pledging a shift abroad from petrol and diesel entirely, and focusing their attentions on an electric-but future.

GM's announcement immediately followed the newly-elected Biden assistants announcing plans to transition the United states of america government armada to consist entirely of electric cars assembled in the U.s..

Additionally, diesel fuel cars have been marred by controversy in recent years, sparked by the notorious 'Dieselgate' saga, in which the Volkswagen Group was found to accept cheated diesel fuel emissions laws.

Toyota was also recently the discipline of a damning independent report into faults with its diesel particulate filter (DPF) on sure models, causing the carmaker to redesign its DPF system.

But regardless of this seismic global shift away from diesel and petrol cars, data shows Australians have been slower to embrace alternative powertrains than their overseas counterparts.

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Although models like Toyota's hybrid RAV4 are seeing exponential sales growth locally, Roy Morgan plant hybrids however only make up 270,000 of Australia's cars, while 200,000 Australians drive LPG cars and but forty,000 drive all-electric cars.

At the aforementioned time every bit information technology's driving the bulk of the nation'due south hybrid sales, Toyota is also responsible for the majority of diesel cars on Australian roads – with 482,000 of the land's diesels produced past the Japanese behemothic.

Roy Morgan as well found that there were several manufacturers for which diesel cars brand upward the majority of their Australian-owned vehicles.

These included Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Isuzu UTE, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jeep, Volvo, Peugeot and Land Rover, all of which had more than xx per cent of their local vehicle fleets made upward by diesel cars.

Simply while a large proportion of Australia'south existing fleet is diesel-powered, new diesel sales are on the decline.

Australians purchased 290,659 diesel fuel cars in 2020, compared with 332,219 in 2019 – a decline of 12.5 per cent.

What's more than, Roy Morgan found 52.6 per cent of Australians said they are seriously considering ownership a hybrid motorcar, up 5.6 per cent on v years ago, while 38.5 per cent of Australians are considering an all-electric car, up 11.3 per cent in only v years.

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Susannah Guthrie

Susannah Guthrie has been a journalist since she was 18, and has spent the final ii years writing about cars for Drive, CarAdvice, CarSales and as a motoring columnist for several in-flight and hotel magazines. Susannah'southward background is news journalism, followed by several years spent in celebrity journalism, entertainment journalism and way magazines and a cursory stint hosting a travel Goggle box show for Channel Ten. She joined Drive in 2020 subsequently spending a twelvemonth and a half at the helm of Harper's BAZAAR and ELLE'south online platforms. Susannah holds a Bachelor in Media and Communications from the University of Melbourne and cut her teeth as an intern for Time Inc in New York Metropolis. She has also completed a television presenting form with the National Establish of Dramatic Art.

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