CANBERRA, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Hybrid car sales in Australia have hit a record high as the market share of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles continues to decline, according to new data.
The latest quarterly data published by peak industry body the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) on Monday revealed there were 46,727 hybrid light vehicles sold in Australia in the second quarter of 2024 spanning from the start of April through the end of June.
It marks a record-high for quarterly hybrid car sales and a 110 percent increase in hybrid sales from 22,212 in the second quarter of 2023.
Overall, there were 312,889 cars sold in Australia in the three-month period. Hybrids accounted for 14.9 percent of all sales, up from 6.2 percent in the first three months of 2023.
In the same period, the ICE market share has fallen from 86.4 percent to 75.4 percent.
Battery electric vehicle (BEV) market share increased from 6.7 percent in the first quarter of 2023 to a record-high 8.7 percent in the first three months of 2024, but dipped to 8.1 percent in the second quarter.
"In the first half of 2023, BEVs outsold hybrids, but since then, hybrids have outsold BEVs in four consecutive quarters," the AAA report said.
In the second quarter of 2024, ICE vehicles accounted for more than 99 percent of utility vehicles, more than 98 percent of vans and over 97 percent of people movers sold but only 18 percent of medium-sized cars.
BEVs were most popular in the medium-sized market, accounting for 46.7 percent of sales, with hybrids at 34.5 percent. ■
