Once an anomaly across the country in having an electric car as its bestseller, the ACT has now embraced the growing national trend toward hybrids with the Toyota RAV4 topping the territory's sales in July.
The world's largest carmaker's multi-billion dollar bet on hybrid engine technology is now paying huge dividends with the RAV4 SUV dethroning the popular twin-cab ute brands in a month in which vehicle sales nationally set a new July record.
Toyota also set a national hybrid vehicle sales record in July of 12,686 across all model lines in one month for the first time.
There have been 636 RAV4s, the overwhelming majority of them hybrids, sold in the ACT in the first seven months of this year with the strong July result accelerating it past the Tesla's two battery-electric vehicles, the Model 3 and Model Y.
Hybrid vehicle sales have grown 134 per cent in the ACT this year, plug-in hybrid electrics are up by 152 per cent, while battery electrics have grown by 9.1 per cent. The sales of petrol combustion vehicles slipped 22 per cent.
While Tesla sales still remained strong in the ACT in the first seven months of this year, its lack of a range of models to suit different buyers needs and budgets is now being exposed by other electric car brands from China such as BYD, which has five models, and MG, which recently slashed the price of its entry-level EV, the Excite, to the lowest yet for a new EV of $34,990 drive away for August only.
MG's aggressive market play also coincided with the rollout of a 10-year / 250,000km warranty across its fleet.
Multiple Chinese EV brands are all positioning themselves to enter the market in the next 12 months after more than 30,000 battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle vehicles were sold across the country in the second quarter of this year, according to the latest Australian Automobile Association index.
However, Toyota's position is to adopt what it calls a "multi-pathway approach which focuses on developing a range of solutions and technologies".
In its submission to the current House of Representatives standing committee inquiry into the transition to EV, Toyota also reiterated its support for a national road user charge, despite the Victorian government failing in a High Court challenge to uphold its state surcharge last year.
It says the national road user surcharge should replace fuel excise "with funds generated directed towards roads and infrastructure, as well as consumer subsidies to support the useability and accessibility of zero low emission vehicles and help drive demand".
For a car maker with the biggest research and development budget in the world, Toyota says that harsh driving environments are "extremely challenging on batteries, electric motors and other components" for light commercial EVs and that "the technology currently available is not yet suitable for market use".
