From petrol and diesel to hybrids and EVs, which cars are Australia's favourites based on their powertrain?
Buying a car in 2025 is no longer a simple choice of petrol or diesel, nor is it simply a matter of adding electric to that mix.
Modern cars can, and do, utilise a variety of powertrains that are all designed to operate with maximum performance and efficiency. As to what lies beneath some of our best-selling cars though, is not always clear.
Of the 438 reported vehicles on sale, 64.8 per cent (284) are offered with just one powertrain option, where 24.2 per cent (106) have two.
Each table below only shows the volume of cars sold with that powertrain too, so in the case of the Hyundai Kona, for example, it is ranked fifth in terms of hybrid but also ninth in terms of petrol.
As it is, the Kona's total year-to-date (YTD) sales split of 19,028 vehicles is shared between 52.5 per cent petrol, 45.1 per cent hybrid and just 2.4 per cent fully electric.
Australia's best-selling electric vehicles – January to October 2025
Of the 111 fully electric models reported as being sold so far in 2025, the Tesla Model Y outsells the combined total of 91 of them, such is its dominance.
The brand holds the overall top spot in terms of full-electric sales with 23,569 deliveries year-to-date, but BYD is hot on its heels at 19,248 fully-electric vehicles.
Kia comes in third (7095), with MG (5621) and BMW (4458) rounding out the top-5 brands. Note that 40 brands now offer fully electric options to buyers.
Australia's best-selling hybrid vehicles – January to October 2025
It should come as no surprise to anyone that Toyota owns the hybrid market in Australia.
There are only 11 brands selling traditional 'closed-loop' hybrid vehicles, but the Japanese giant accounts for just under 60 per cent of all hybrid sales so far in 2025 (93,322), with Hyundai a distant second at 23,824, or 15 per cent.
Chinese brand GWM is in third position at 9454 vehicles (roughly 10 per cent of Toyota's volume), with hybrids only making up about 22 per cent of all GWM sales. Lexus (8380) and Kia (6927) complete the top-5 brand rankings.
Australia's best-selling plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) – January to October 2025
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) have seen a rise in popularity in 2025, largely driven by the short-lived novated lease FBT (fringe benefits tax) incentive earlier in the year, along with the popularity of the BYD Shark 6 ute.
The Shark 6 leads the sales charge in Australia so much that it has sold twice as many as the second-place BYD Sealion 6 SUV.
These cars see BYD secure the top spot for PHEV sales (out of 28 brands that offer the technology), followed by Mitsubishi, GWM, Mazda and BMW. The Mitsubishi Outlander SUV attributes just 20 per cent of its total volume (18,517) to PHEV sales.
Australia's best-selling petrol vehicles – January to October 2025
Petrol is still the most prevalent driveline option for new car buyers, and Mazda is Australia's favourite petrol-only brand with 73 per cent (56,484) of its total 77,732 sales so far in 2025 attributed to gasoline-exclusive power.
The Korean pair of Kia (34,795) and Hyundai (32,823) come in next, with both brands accounting for 50 per cent of their total YTD sales from petrol vehicles. Subaru (28,889) and Mitsubishi (26,853) complete the top five.
It highlights that outside of Toyota, customers of the major Japanese brands aren't looking to step too far from their traditional petrol comfort zone.
Australia's best-selling diesel vehicles – January to October 2025
Diesel has long been the favoured fuel of regional Australia, so it is not surprising to see the top 'oilers' as off-road capable utes and wagons.
The diesel Ranger and Everest make up 86 per cent of Ford's total sales (78,451), helping the Blue Oval take the number one position from a diesel brand perspective (67,549).
Toyota (58,784), Isuzu (35,114) and Mitsubishi (20,809) follow, all driven by off-road and adventure-centric utes and SUVs, with Kia taking fifth position in the diesel stakes (20,235) – curiously led by 6852 diesel-powered Carnival sales.
Australia's best-selling mild-hybrid vehicles – January to October 2025
The mild-hybrid space is an interesting one, with sales accounting for just 8 per cent of the market, split between petrol-electric (15 brands) and diesel-electric (seven brands) driveline solutions.
Toyota's 48-volt V-Active system in high-specification HiLux utes and the new Prado SUV cover 78 per cent of the diesel-electric market (39,604), with the BMW X3 and X5 (3178), Land Rover and Range Rover models (2621), Mercedes-Benz (1773) and Mazda (1708) completing the top five.
In terms of petrol-electric, sales are led by Mercedes-Benz (9431) due to using the EQ-boost technology in most models.
It is followed by Mazda (4987) with 'e-SkyActiv' engines in its larger CX-60 to CX-90 SUVs, then BMW (4163), Suzuki (3578) and Audi (2768), which all have adopted various levels of electrification support in their petrol-engined models.
Nissan's e-Power hybrid system is categorised differently, as technically, the e-Power X-Trail and Qashqai models are driven by electric motors, with the petrol engine used as a generator to keep the battery charged, rather than actually power the wheels, as in a more traditional hybrid.
Regardless, the X-Trail e-Power has sold 3362 units and the Qashqai 972, which keeps them out of the Top 10 hybrid models anyway.
There's only one range-extender EV on sale, which uses a small petrol engine to help power the vehicle when the battery is depleted: the Leapmotor C1 (198 sales).
There is just one Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicle, the Toyota Mirai, still being delivered – although just two people (or business operations) have picked up the keys so far this year.
| There are five electric-exclusive brands in Australia which report sales: Tesla, Polestar, Zeekr, Deepal and Foton Mobility (trucks) |
| Two top-ten brands have no pure-electric vehicles: Mitsubishi and Isuzu |
| Almost 70 per cent (68.6 per cent) of Lexus sales are hybrid whereas Toyota has only 46 per cent |
| Nearly half of Honda sales (45.7 per cent) are hybrid |
| Diesel accounts for 86.1 per cent of all Ford sales |
| Only two brands (GMC and Aston Martin) offer 100 per cent pure petrol drivelines |
| Maserati has the highest percentage of mild-hybrid sales at 66 per cent |
| As a percentage of overall plug-in hybrid sales, the top five brands include Bentley, Ferrari and McLaren – with Lamborghini in sixth. |
With over 20 years of experience in digital publishing, James Ward has worked within the automotive landscape since 2007 and brings experience from the publishing, manufacturer and lifestyle side of the industry together to spearhead Drive's multi-media content direction.
