Diesel-powered proving popular

The number of vehicles registered with diesel engines has increased 57.4 per cent to 2.2 million vehicles from March 2005 to 2010, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics motor vehicle census released yesterday (2 Feb 2011). They now represent 13.8 per cent of all registered vehicles.

While passenger vehicle registrations grew 12.6 per cent in the five years to 2010, diesel-powered passenger vehicles grew 91.5 per cent.

But while Australian motorists have embraced the frugal economy of diesel power, they have not been as keen on so-called "green" hybrid petrol-electric vehicles.

VFACTS industry figures for last year show only 1769 new private passenger hybrids were sold, compared with 22,262 diesels. Government and business has shown more interest in hybrids with 7058 sold last year, compared with 23,364 non-private passenger diesels.

The ABS census shows vehicles registrations increased 2.5 per cent in the past year to a record 16.1 million. That is 0.72 of a vehicle for every Australian last year compared with 0.68 in 2005.

The census shows the biggest growth in vehicles registrations from 2005 to 2010 were in the Northern Territory (22.7 per cent), Western Australian (22.3 per cent) and Queensland (21.4 per cent). States with growth below the national average of 15. 4 per cent were South Australia (11.5 per cent), NSW (12.3 per cent), Victoria (12.7 per cent) and Tasmania (13.3 per cent).

The average age of an Australian vehicle is 10 years with Tasmania having the oldest vehicles at 11.9 years and Northern Territory the youngest at 8.8 years.

Motorcycle popularity continues to grow at a faster rate than any other vehicle type. From 2005 to 2010, motorcycle (including scooter) registrations had an average annual growth rate of 9.4 per cent. However, in the 12 months to March 2010, motorcycle registrations grew just 5.8 per cent.