Diesel not giving up in Australia as 2026 Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux stay strong with petrol sales declining fast due to hybrids such as Toyota RAV4

Diesel fuel prices have been skyrocketing in Australia, making buyers think twice about running costs.

According to NSW fuel price data, diesel is up to $1 per litre more expensive than petrol on average, sitting on average at over $3 per litre.

Diesel sales were already in decline, but sustained higher fuel prices appear to have accelerated this trend.

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What may surprise some, though, is that petrol car sales are decreasing at a faster rate than diesel.

Diesel sales have declined 10.1 per cent compared to February 2026 and 4.8 per cent overall this year.

Petrol sales for the same periods have declined by more than 20 per cent and nearly 18 per cent, respectively. This equates to almost 22,000 less vehicles sold compared to this time last year. Diesel sales have only declined a little over 4000 units compared to March 2025.

There were 28,364 diesel sales in March 2026 as opposed to 34,694 petrol ones, but if petrol sales continue to decline at the same rate, it will not be long before diesel is the top selling non-electrified fuel type for vehicles.

2026 Ford Everest and Ranger

Diesel also still more than doubles the sales of electric month-on-month, but EVs are rapidly catching up.

One of the key reasons for these differences is many brands are ditching pure petrol models for electrified variants, as Australia's new vehicle efficiency standards start to impose big consequences for higher-emitting engines.

For example, most of Toyota’s major models are now hybrid only, such as the Yaris hatch, Camry sedan and RAV4 SUV.

Diesel fuel prices have increases significantly more than petrol in the past few months.

There have also been talks of brands completely cutting petrol options from their line-ups, such as Chery.

Local Chief Executive Officer Lucas Harris told CarsGuide earlier this year it is something he is eager to see happen.

“Personally I would hope that we get to that point because the super hybrid driving experience, in particular Chery’s super hybrid driving experience is so good and I think it is much better than ICE,” Harris said.

2026 Toyota HiLux

“The more people that try it, the more consumers go that way. We’ll be led by demand so if all of a sudden nobody is buying an ICE Tiggo 7, and they're only buying Tiggo 7 super hybrid, it probably doesn’t make much sense to continue bringing an ICE product that consumers don’t really want.”

Other brands have echoed these comments in the past as they move to predominantly hybrid and electric line-ups. In February, for example, Hyundai was number two for hybrid sales in Australia, a title it may lose to BYD's popular range of plug-in hybrids like the Shark 6 and Sealion 6. BYD, meanwhile, is already hybrid and electric only.

Diesel utes still dominate the sales charts, the Ford Ranger and the Toyota HiLux leading the way, with the Isuzu D-Max also in the top 10. Both the HiLux and D-Max experienced subtle growth, while the Ranger had a near 10 per cent decline compared to last month.