Australia’s number two hybrid brand revealed: Hyundai chips away at Toyota’s fuel-sipping dominance with 2026 Hyundai Kona, Tucson, and Santa Fe leaping up the charts, as it looks to keep BYD Shark 6 and Sealion 6 at bay

Toyota’s undisputed hybrid dominance continued in the past year but with new emissions laws closing in, more brands are vying for a slice of the fuel-sipping hybrid market.

The biggest success story so far appears to be Hyundai, which has moved to electrify some of its top-selling nameplates. The Korean juggernaut now ranks second in Australia for total hybrid sales, amassing 28,819 hybrids registered in 2025.

While this still trails Toyota’s total of 116,635 hybrid units by a significant margin, it’s a reasonably rapid rise for Hyundai, which has managed to double its hybrid tally year-on-year.

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This is thanks to the roll-out of key hybrid variants for its most popular nameplates, like the Kona small SUV (now 46 per cent hybrid by sales), Tucson mid-sizer (52 per cent hybrid), the Santa Fe, which launched as a hybrid (hence its whopping 82 per cent hybrid sales mix), and the recently-launched Palisade hybrid, which made up 32 per cent of the large SUV’s sales (this figure combines the previous model as well).

Hyundai is perhaps a victim of its own mainstream success in that its total for 2025 was still only 37 per cent hybrid, 60 per cent combustion, and just two per cent electric. The brand therefore still managed to attract a penalty under Australia’s tough New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), despite its hybrid growth.

Hyundai’s hybrid strategy has managed to outfox its traditional Japanese rivals Honda and Nissan thanks to the widespread availability and affordability of its hybrid options.

The Kona, for example, is available as a hybrid in base form, priced at $36,950 before on-road costs, while the most affordable Nissan Qashqai e-Power ST-L is priced at $45,640 (before on-roads), and the cheapest Honda ZR-V hybrid is priced at $54,900 (drive-away).

2026 Hyundai Santa Fe

The same can be said across the range, with the Santa Fe a plugless hybrid success when measured against its Kia Sorento sibling, which was previously only available as a hybrid in top-spec GT-Line form. Kia has now expanded its hybrid offering to include the base S at $59,630 before on-roads. In comparison, the base Santa Fe Hybrid can be had from $57,650.

However, there are storm cells on the horizon for Hyundai. Not only does its two per cent EV volume mean the more affordable Chinese-built Elexio mid-size SUV must help out on the sales front in 2026, but the next brand down for hybrid sales, BYD, has rapidly caught up despite fielding only two hybrid (albeit, plug-in hybrid) offerings.

The Shark 6 ute is undeniably one of the biggest success stories of 2025, shifting 18,073 units, but the mid-sized Sealion 6 is also a force to be reckoned with, achieving 9055 registrations in the same period.

In total, these two plug-ins bring BYD’s tally to 27,128 units, just shy of Hyundai’s total for the year, and by far leading the charts for plug-in hybrids specifically.

In addition, the market-leading Toyota will put pressure on Hyundai’s line-up with the introduction of its next-generation RAV4 and its plug-in hybrid variants imminently. Toyota sold 51,869 units of just the RAV4 hybrid in 2025.

The Japanese giant has also transitioned most of its passenger car and non 4x4 line-up to hybrid only, with a strong proportion of Corolla Cross, Corolla, and Camry making up its yearly total.

Meanwhile Kia, whose hybrid total for 2025 came to 9401 units, is doubling down by not only adding additional hybrid variants of the Sorento, but it will soon launch a more heavily hybridised next-generation Seltos.

Kia’s key advantage over its sibling is its relative dominance in the EV space, with its line-up of the EV3, EV5, EV6, EV9 and outgoing Niro accounting for 8131 units in 2025, eclipsing its hybrid total, accounting for 10 per cent of its total sales, and putting it firmly in the positive column for NVES credits which will pay dividends in the coming years.