Australian motorists show a big preference for big cars

Australian motorists’ love for big cars has shone through in the latest sales figures, with almost four in every five new cars sold being sports-utility vehicles or utes.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries released sales figures on Tuesday, showing SUVs made up more than half of all new cars sold during January, while light commercial vehicles represented one in every five new vehicles.

By contrast, sales of passenger cars fell slightly and electric car sales were down on December’s tally at 5.4 per cent, but higher than the same time last year.

The report comes two days after the federal government announced plans to introduce a fuel-efficiency standard next year to encourage car makers to bring more low-emission vehicles into the country.

The new figures, released a day later than expected, also showed the number of new cars in Australia continued to climb in January, with more than 89,000 sold during the month — an increase of 5.8 per cent compared to January 2023.

But FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said the industry remained concerned sales could fall during 2024 due to cost-of-living pressures on consumers.

He said the January figures also showed the federal government could struggle to implement a fuel-efficiency standard if the new law limited or increased the price of large vehicles that “Australians need and want”.

“The continuing preference for SUVs and utes demonstrates the challenges the commonwealth government is facing as it works to introduce a new vehicle emissions standard,” Mr Weber said.

“Good policy must reflect reality rather than a desktop exercise that makes assumptions about what the world can look like, and we strongly urge the government to share its modelling with us.”

A fuel-efficiency standard, like those used in the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand and throughout Europe, would set an emissions target for each vehicle manufacturer and encourage them to bring more low-emission options to Australia to balance out high-polluting vehicles.

Transport Minister Catherine King said the government’s preferred standard would help reduce household fuel bills and ensure brands delivered modern vehicles for Australian consumers.

“It doesn’t dictate what sort of car or ute people can buy, but will mean you have a wider range of modern and cheaper-to-run vehicles,” she said.

The new sales figures also revealed Toyota remained the country’s most popular automotive brand, but the Ford Ranger ute took out the title of best-selling vehicle, followed by the Toyota HiLux, Toyota LandCruiser, and Isuzu D-Max.