Diesels on the rise

The five-year period between 2007 and this year has been a boom time for diesel vehicles, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

In a press release issued today, the Bureau announced that its Motor Vehicle Census (MVC) for 2012 has recorded 60.6 per cent growth in diesel vehicles registered since 2007. The census is a snapshot of the Australian automotive parc as of January this year, at which time diesel-powered vehicles accounted for 15.9 per cent of the total – roughly 2.7 million vehicles. A year earlier, diesels comprised 14.7 per cent of the total, so the growth in diesels just during that 12-month period has been substantial.

With the average age of the national fleet coming back down to 10 years, it’s likely that attrition may have hurt petrol-engined vehicle numbers more than diesels, on a percentage basis. But the surge in registered diesel vehicles since 2007 has been mostly driven by new car sales.

According to VFACTS, diesel sales for the year to date are up 21.1 per cent. While diesel passenger car sales have actually dropped 2.2 per cent (taking the average down with it), privately purchased diesel-powered SUVs are selling nearly 60 per cent higher than for the same period last year. To the end of July 2011 private owners had purchased 21,023 diesel SUVs. This year they’ve purchased 33,609.

It’s a similar proposition with SUVs purchased by fleet operators: 26,068 acquired last year, versus 35,523 this year – a 36.3 per cent gain. Sales of diesel LCVs are up also: 19.7 per cent for private buyers, 12.6 per cent for fleets.

In 2007, for the full year, diesel vehicles of all kinds numbered 212,253, VFACTS reports. That figure grew by 13.7 per cent for 2008, but then slumped 0.2 per cent during the GFC period in 2009. However, in 2010, and following tax incentives introduced by the Rudd Government, the growth in sales of diesel vehicles grew by a further 8.2 per cent and then 4.2 per cent again, from 2010 to 2011.

And if there’s one sure sign that diesel is here to stay, sales to the end of August this year are certain to exceed sales for the full year, 2007. The VFACTS figures also point to a surprising trend: in 2007, car companies sold more diesel passenger cars (ie: not SUVs) into the private market, than they did in 2011. Fleets are buying more diesel passenger cars these days.

Perhaps many of those private buyers back in 2007 are now trading in their diesel Golfs for diesel Tiguans...

Picture courtesy of BP

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