Politicians may be calling for Australian brands to build electric cars but sales figures suggest if they build them, no one will come.
While car companies around the world are making fuel efficiency a priority, Australians continue to shun hybrid and electric cars in preference for larger soft-roaders and cars with more powerful engines. Even some of the best-selling small cars in Australia - including many Mazda3s - aren’t that fuel-efficient.
Despite a wave of publicity, the stratospheric prices of electric cars (the cheapest is the modest Mitsubishi i-MiEV city hatchback, selling from $48,800 plus costs) continue to scare off all but publicity-hungry companies and governments.
According to figures supplied by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, only 49 electric cars were sold last year in a market that topped 1 million for the fourth time. That represents market share of 0.005 per cent.
Despite more new models, sales of hybrid cars dropped 9.9 per cent last year. For the year, hybrids made up just 0.87 per cent of all car sales, a slip from 0.94 per cent in 2010.
The drop mirrors a worldwide slide in hybrid car sales, partly due to production cuts affecting the world’s biggest-selling hybrid, the Toyota Prius, after last year’s Japanese earthquake.
Sales of the Prius in Australia fell by 49 per cent in 2011, with just 822 vehicles sold. Combining Prius with the locally built Hybrid Camry, Toyota Australia sold 6026 petrol-electric vehicles in 2011 - well short of its prediction it would sell more than 10,000 hybrids.
Toyota Australia spokesman Mike Breen says the brand has higher expectations of the next Hybrid Camry due in March but admits buyers need to learn that just because it’s a hybrid car does not mean it’s a niche vehicle.
”We’ve really got to get hybrid [cars] to a point where it’s just a normal car,” Breen says.
”I think it’s still a matter of educating the public on what hybrid technology really means for them.
”I think you’ll see that turn around in the next couple of years overall.”
Industry experts say unfounded concerns about battery life linger, despite hybrids being on sale here for more than 10 years.
Several new hybrid models are due to arrive soon: Toyota’s Yaris-size Prius C city car will arrive in March and should become Australia’s cheapest hybrid (from about $25,000), while a wagon-style seven-seater known as the Prius V should arrive mid-year, boasting a bigger boot and two extra seats.
Mercedes-Benz is expected to bring a hybrid version of the E-Class to Australia, possibly next year, while BMW will launch the petrol-electric 5-Series ActiveHybrid this year.
