The ink has barely dried on the Federal Government’s recently legislated New Vehicle Efficiency Scheme (NVES) and Australia’s largest car seller Toyota has moved to lower its fleet emissions by announcing a hybrid-only drivetrain option on nine of its popular models.

The Japanese giant commands a dominant 19.6% of the Australian new vehicle market and a sizeable proportion of its passenger vehicle sales were already hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), but the car maker has decided to take the option of a conventional petrol engine off the table for many of its models.

Toyota’s announcement means petrol-only variants have been discontinued on nine of its passenger car and SUV models, including the category-leading RAV4 medium SUV.

Corolla and Camry sedans and the Corolla Cross, RAV4 and Kluger SUVs are now 100% HEV, joining existing Toyota vehicle that had already made the hybrid-only switch including Yaris Cross SUV, Corolla and Yaris hatches, and new C-HR SUV.

Toyota’s sporty GR Yaris and GR Corolla models continue unchanged as they are not offered with a hybrid alternative, while the brand’s popular 4x4 models including HiLux and LandCruiser retain their diesel combustion engines.

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Toyota Australia Vice-President Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations Sean Hanley said the development would accelerate an already established sales trend that has seen the brand’s hybrid sales reach record levels.

Toyota’s HEV share reached a record 33.5% last year and has jumped to 46.6% in the first five months of this year, including 48.9% in May.

“So far this year, our total HEV sales have more than doubled to 46,821 vehicles compared with the same period last year with all models continuing to attract strong demand,” Mr Hanley said.

“At the same time, we have worked closely with our production teams in Japan to increase supply, which has substantially reduced wait times on popular models like RAV4 hybrid.

“Overall, we have now sold more than 430,000 HEVs in Australia since we launched the original Prius in October 2001.”

Mr Hanley said ongoing developments, including the upcoming mandated new vehicle efficiency standard, confirmed the foresight of Toyota’s strategy multi-pathway approach to decarbonisation, which has seen it implement a HEV strategy over an extended period while also developing other powertrain options including battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.