Diesel and V8's Sales Soared in 2021.

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"New vehicle sales in Australia were affected by many factors in 2021, including lockdowns and supply chain challenges.

While that artificially restricted the number of vehicles some brands could sell, there were also other trends at play, such as some pace finally kicking in on the shift to EV and a love of just about anything that can go off-road.

Here are some of the surprises from the Aussie new-vehicle market in 2021.


Reckon we’re shunning diesel in a big way? Not quite… Sure, diesel-powered passenger cars have mostly fizzled out, but utes and SUVs are filling the diesel void.

In 2021, almost 33 per cent of the new vehicles Australians bought were diesels. That’s the highest percentage ever. While the figures aren’t easy to get prior to 2008 (when 20 per cent of new vehicle sales were diesels), it’s a safe bet they didn’t get close to the 2021 tally.

That’s because Australia has only embraced diesel in the last couple of decades. Even in the 1990s many off-roaders and utes used petrol engines, whereas these days most are diesel.

Toyota is the king of hybrids – and V8s
It’s no secret that Toyota has long been the hybrid vehicle leader, but you might not know the Japanese brand is also the king of V8s.

Yes, of the 70,466 new hybrid vehicles sold in Australia in 2021, 65,491 of them (93 per cent) wore a Toyota badge. Of the remainder, 3604 were sold by Toyota’s luxury brand, Lexus, meaning together they accounted for 98 per cent of all hybrids sold here.


But Toyota also sold a record 25,457 V8s in 2021, all of them LandCruisers – either in 70 Series guise or the more luxurious 200 Series. So more than 10 per cent of all Toyotas sold last year were V8s – and 58 per cent of all V8s sold were Toyotas.

And with the waiting list for a new LandCruiser 70 Series now extending out to 2024 the boom in V8 and diesel sales looks set to continue for a while." https://www.carsales.com.au/editoria...t-year-136739/