The removal of tax incentives has had a marked impact on the latest new vehicle figures with a drop in plug-in hybrids after a surge in March.
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) lost their fringe benefits tax (FBT) exemption at the end of March and sales have plummeted to 2,601 vehicles, down 2.9 per cent of sales down from 4.7 per cent of sales year in March.
However numerically this number is still almost double what it was in 2024 and sales so far in 20025 are four times what they were last year.
Overall sales were down almost 7 per cent on 2024, and this includes pure EVs that for the year to date are 44 per cent lower than 2024.
FCAI figures, that do not include Tesla or Polestar, show in 2025 17,660 EVs have been sold compared to 31,662 in the first fourth months of 2024.
In other figures both petrol and diesel powered vehicles are down about 10 per cnet while hybrids are up 22 per cnet for the years so far.
The FCAI has used the figures to highlight the challenges under the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) of reaching the target changes to the car parc.
FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said the figures highlight the impact of government policy decisions on consumer behaviour in the automotive market.
“The earlier inclusion of PHEVs in the FBT exemption played a critical role in making these vehicles accessible to more Australians. Removing that support has led to an immediate and disappointing drop in demand in a price-sensitive vehicle market,” Weber says.
“For NVES to succeed, it must be supported by holistic policy settings that assist consumers to move to zero and low-emission technologies, including continued investment in recharging infrastructure,” Mr Weber said.
Australians purchased 90,614 new vehicles during April, a decrease of 6.8 per cent on the same period in 2024.
The Toyota HiLux was Australia’s top selling vehicle with sales of 4,121 followed by the Ford Ranger (4,031), Toyota RAV4 (3,808), Ford Everest (2,234) and Toyota Prado (2,233).
Toyota was the market leader with sales of 19,380 during April, followed by Ford (7,334), Mazda (6,573), Kia (6,303) and Hyundai (5,547).