Hybrid car sales have hit top gear in Australia and are now at record levels – even outpacing the growth in electric cars, according to the latest official data.

But while some hybrid cars use half as much fuel as conventional petrol cars, the fuel savings are indistinguishable or non-existent in others.

What we are talking about here are petrol-electric hybrid cars that recharge their small battery packs on the move (such as when coasting, braking or driving downhill) so they have enough power to give the car an electric boost on take-off at the lights (the thirstiest part of commuter driving).

Unlike plug-in hybrid cars (which we will cover in a separate story), regular petrol-electric hybrid cars don’t need to be plugged in, which is part of their appeal.

Market leader Toyota is the biggest seller of hybrid cars in Australia, delivering more than 430,000 examples since the original Prius arrived in October 2001.

And so far this year, hybrid vehicles account for almost half (46 per cent) of new Toyota vehicles sold in Australia.

Despite the hybrid badge appearing on more models across various car brands, there is no industry definition or pre-requisite for the use of the term.

This is important to know because testing by EFTM over the years has revealed some hybrid systems are better than others.

And some are genuinely ineffective.

So, based on our testing of close to 200 cars per year for the past 20 years, here’s our hot take on the current hybrid car offerings.

Where it all began:

Japanese brands Toyota and Honda launched their first hybrid vehicles in Japan within months of each other in the late 1990s.

But Honda’s hybrid tech only provided an electric boost once the car was already on the move, while Toyota’s hybrid system could give the car an electric boost on take-off.

It turned out Toyota’s system would be much more effective at slashing fuel consumption.

As it stands, Toyota hybrid cars use about half the fuel of equivalent non hybrid models.

Toyota has sold the most hybrid cars globally – and its system is the most efficient in the industry, despite the wave of new challengers.

Hybrid systems that are ok but don’t quite halve fuel consumption

The current hybrid offerings from Japanese brands Mazda and Subaru are negligible or non-existent, based on our testing.

To that end, both brands have pledged to introduce more efficient hybrid tech in the future – and Subaru has announced it will adopt Toyota hybrid tech on their next-generation models.

The current generation of China’s Great Wall Motors (GWM Haval) hybrid system only trims about 25 per cent fuel consumption compared to an equivalent petrol car, based on our testing.

GWM is already working on the next generation of hybrid tech to make further fuel savings.

Korean car giant Hyundai-Kia have good hybrid tech on their latest models, which cut fuel consumption by about 35 per cent compared to an equivalent non hybrid model.

Nissan’s e-Power tech (which uses the petrol engine to charge the battery pack which powers the electric motors) cuts fuel use by about 35 to 40 per cent.

Honda’s latest hybrid system – on the new generation Accord, which we tested recently here – marks a major turning point for the Japanese brand, and is the closest to Toyota at halving fuel consumption in real-world driving.

The Honda CR-V Hybrid is also pretty good but not quite as frugal as the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid (about 0.5L/100km apart in our real-world testing).

Japanese brand Suzuki and Chinese brand MG have just introduced new hybrid tech on their new city hatchbacks.

And while the MG3 Hybrid has trimmed fuel use by about 35 per cent compared to a non hybrid hatchback in the real world, the new Suzuki Swift Hybrid consumption is close to Toyota Prius numbers.

Here’s how we rank the latest hybrid systems based on our real-world testing:

  • Toyota (the industry benchmark, slashes fuel use by up to 50 per cent)
  • Honda (latest generation hybrid tech, slashes fuel use by up to 45 per cent)
  • Nissan e-Power (latest generation hybrid tech, slashes fuel use by up to 40 per cent)
  • Hyundai-Kia (latest generation hybrid tech, cuts fuel use by up to 35 per cent)
  • Suzuki Swift Hybrid (latest generation hybrid tech, cuts fuel use by up to 35 per cent)
  • MG3 Hybrid (latest generation hybrid tech, cuts fuel use by up to 30 per cent)
  • GWM Haval (current generation hybrid tech, cuts fuel use by up to 25 per cent)
  • Mazda (current generation hybrid tech, no measurable difference to equivalent non-hybrid model)
  • Subaru (current generation hybrid tech, no measurable difference to equivalent non-hybrid model)

What is a mild hybrid?

The term mild-hybrid typically refers to vehicles equipped with stop-start engine tech and, in our opinion, the emphasis should be on ‘mild’ rather than ‘hybrid’.

At best they trim fuel use by 5 to 10 per cent.

What is a plug-in hybrid?

As the description implies, plug-in hybrid cars can be charged via a wall socket and generally provide up to 50km of electric driving (in ideal conditions) before the petrol motor takes over for another 400km or so of range.

The industry thought plug-in hybrid cars would be a great stop-gap measure as motorists moved to electric cars, because PHEVs (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles) eliminate range anxiety.

However, PHEVs only make sense if you keep them charged with electricity.

And if you can keep them charged with electricity, then you may as well go all the way and switch to a fully electric car.

The other drawback of PHEVs: you are always carrying a power source you are not using, which weighs the car down.

When running on electric power, the petrol tank and petrol engine are dormant.

When running on petrol power, the battery pack and electric motor are largely dormant (unless you floor the throttle).

How hybrid car sales in Australia compare so far this year:

  • Petrol: 222,000 (down 5 per cent), 43 per cent of customer demand
  • Diesel: 157,000 (up 13 per cent), 30 per cent of customer demand
  • Hybrid: 66,400 (up 126 per cent), 13 per cent of customer demand
  • Electric: 40,600 (up 26 per cent), 8 per cent of customer demand
  • Plug-in hybrid: 6000 (up 118 per cent), 1.2 per cent of customer demand

Source: Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, new vehicle sales January to May 2024 (compared to same period prior year).