Nope. Nope. I don't care what anyone buys. I don't care what my neighbour buys. I don't really care what any individual buys. What I care about is the mess we're making for ourselves. Despite what you think Austalians are buying, the data says that all we are buying now is 4x4's and SUVs. I concede that some cars on this list are really just boxy wagons.
If we have any hope of meeting our climate targets it's likely we will have to pay to remove these cars from the road before their economic lives are out. Personally I'd rather people that didn't really need them didn't buy them so that people that actually needed them could have uninhibited access to them.
I believe you're delusional if you think the needs of Australian motorists is so different now to 20 years ago. For that once or twice a year when we needed to take a load to the dump, or go camping/holidaying - we had a thing called a box trailer. What an idea! Ours was bright yellow! You could even let the rubbish pile up for weeks before a dump run, and use shovels in it and not worry about the paint. Glorious.
The whole reason NVES exists is because so many people are buying large inefficient cars who never use them for anything other than driving around the city. The same things that not very long ago they managed perfectly well with sedans and wagons. NVES puts some of the responsibility for this mess back on the car makers who IMHO are very largely responsible. They've encouraged us to buy these things, now they can help find a solution to the problem. I wish NVES was more aggressive. The only people who would feel the pain is car makers who I've no sympathy for.
Look at that 2005 list. Half of the cars are what we would call "small" cars by todays standards.
Check 1985. Not a 4x4 or dual cab to be seen. Yet we had boats, Caravans etc etc.
So yes, when I see a family where all the cars are 4x4's or dual cabs I'm going to thing they are taking the proverbial and judge them for that choice. When I see a shiny DC with not a mark on it and nothing in the tray driving around the city, I'm going to judge them too. Sorry, not sorry. Yes many cars are bought as statements about how people want to be perceived. This is not new - but advertising has been so successful that 4x4/DC now fill that role.
2025
- Ford Ranger ute – 56,555 (-9.6%)
- Toyota RAV4 medium SUV – 51,947 (-11.5%)
- Toyota HiLux ute – 51,297 (-4.1%)
- Isuzu D-Max ute – 26,839 (-11.1%)
- Ford Everest large SUV – 26,161 (-1.3%)
- Toyota LandCruiser Prado large SUV – 26,106 (+166.3%)
- Hyundai Kona small SUV – 22,769 (+31.1%)
- Mazda CX-5 medium SUV – 22,742 (-0.4%)
- Mitsubishi Outlander medium SUV – 22,459 (-18.7%)
- Tesla Model Y medium SUV – 22,239 (+4.6%)
2005
1 Holden Commodore – 66,794
2 Ford Falcon – 53,080
3 Toyota Corolla – 46,415
4 Toyota Camry – 34,492
5 Holden Astra – 33,070
6 Mazda 3 – 32,570
7 Toyota HiLux – 31,369
8 Holden Rodeo – 24,582
9 Ford Territory – 23,454
10 Holden Utility – 20,202
11 Ford Falcon Ute – 18,384
12 Nissan Pulsar – 17,643
13 Honda Accord – 17,579
14 Hyundai Getz – 16,455
15 Toyota LandCruiser Prado – 15,335
16 Toyota Echo – 15,180
17 Mazda 6 – 14,783
18 Mitsubishi Lancer – 13,641
19 Hyundai Elantra – 13,353
20 Subaru Forester – 12,320
1985
- Ford Falcon (76,818 units)
- Holden Commodore (62,436 units)
- Ford Laser-Meteor (35,479 units)
- Toyota Corolla (28,269 units)
- Mitsubishi Magna (26,902 units)
- Holden Camira (24,395 units)
- Toyota Corona-Camry (23,143 units)
- Ford Telstar (20,982 units)
- Nissan Pulsar (16,348 units)
- Nissan Bluebird (15,528 units)
