Australia has seen a significant growth in hybrid cars over the past year. But sales are still on the low end, with hybrid cars making up less than one percent of the total passenger car market.
4,228 hybrid cars were sold in Australia last year, 2,725 of those were bought by the government or by businesses. Private sales were up 16.3 percent to 1,503 units sold. Only 1,292 private sales occurred in 2006. Government and corporate sales were up 60.8 percent.
Sales have been severely limited by availability. Currently, only Toyota (and Lexus) and Honda sell hybrid cars in Australia. The Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid make up a bulk of the hybrid car sales.
Unlike the US, Australia has a very limited incentives program for hybrid cars. In Queenland, Australia, a stamp duty concession of 2 percent has remained steady for hybrid cars, while the duty has doubled for others.
Meanwhile, diesel sales were up 62.9 percent from 10,566 to 17,215.
Source: Hybrid cars not popular | The Courier-Mail
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