Australia's best-selling plug-in hybrid cars in 2024, with a surprise upset at the top of the charts
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Demand for PHEVs hit new heights in Australia, thanks to tax perks and new models – including a family SUV from China that topped the charts.
The BYD Sealion 6 has overtaken the Mitsubishi Outlander to become Australia’s most popular new plug-in hybrid in 2024, as lucrative tax breaks helped PHEV sales to record highs in 2024.
The Sealion 6 took the top spot in the final days of December – the pair separated by just 72 sales, 6198 vehicles to 6126 – despite the first cars being handed over to customers in June.
If the BYD SUV maintains its current pace – selling an average of 997 examples per month since 1 October, compared to 563 Outlanders – it will clock up close to 12,000 deliveries in 2024.
Sales of plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) – which use externally-rechargeable batteries that can cover 50km to 100km on electric power before their petrol engines kick in – doubled in Australia last year.
MORE: Electric car sales growth in Australia hits the brakes amid Tesla slump in 2024
While they are coming from a low base – up 100.2 per cent from 11,572 in 2023, to 23,163 in 2024 – no other vehicle propulsion type grew faster than PHEVs last year.
The rising popularity of PHEVs has been driven by the arrival of new models, such as the Sealion 6 – and an exemption on Fringe Benefits Tax for customers acquiring through a novated lease, which runs until 1 April 2025.
It allows PHEVs to be acquired for the same monthly or weekly cost as conventional petrol cars that, in some cases, would cost up to 50 per cent more to buy outright.
MORE: Extending FBT exemption on plug-in hybrids "critical" to success of Ford Ranger PHEV, BYD Shark
Despite calls from the automotive industry to extend the tax perk – which also applies to fully-electric cars, but with no end date – it appears highly unlikely to last beyond March 31.
The Outlander was one of the world’s first plug-in hybrids when the powertrain option was added to the previous-generation model in 2014, and has led the category’s growth over the past decade.
Although it lost the top spot on the charts, 2024’s tally of 6126 Outlander PHEV deliveries represents a record for the model, up 169 per cent on the year prior.
In third place was the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV (2368 sales), ahead of the Mazda CX-60 (1481 sales) and MG HS (882).
MORE: Australian new-car sales in 2024: Annual record barely broken despite drop in demand
Excluding vehicles which are, or were until recently, only sold as PHEVs – as well as discontinued models – the Cupra Formentor can claim the highest share of its sales as PHEVs, as 47 per cent of its 598 deliveries in 2024.
While the tax perk is ending, the plug-in hybrid market is set to be supercharged this year with the arrival of the category’s first utes – the BYD Shark 6, Ford Ranger PHEV and GWM Cannon Alpha Hi4-T.
The Shark 6 attracted more than 5000 pre-orders before more than a few customers had test driven the vehicle, so it is a strong contender to overtake – or at least challenge – the Sealion 6 in 2025.
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