2.23 million Australians drive diesel fuel vehicles
The recent scandal involving German automakers testing diesel exhaust fumes on monkeys in a laboratory to prove newer model diesel fuel vehicles aren’t carcinogenic has turned the spotlight on diesel fuel.
The popularity of diesel fuel vehicles has fallen slightly in recent years with 45% of Australians saying they would seriously consider buying a diesel fuel vehicle down from 50% two years ago when several foreign auto makers were in the news for falsifying emissions on their vehicles; including diesel fuel models.
The consideration of diesel fuel vehicles trails the appeal of hybrid vehicles on 52%, although is still in excess of electric vehicles on 37%, and well ahead of LPG vehicles on 21%. The buying preferences of Australians in a broader sense are covered in more detail in the latest Roy Morgan Automotive Buying intentions release available to view here.
Analysing Australians that mostly drive diesel fuel vehicles shows 1.13 million reside in capital cities and 1.10 million in country areas although the differing populations between the two means country Australians are 36% more likely to drive a diesel fuel vehicle than the average Australian equivalent to an index value of 136.
Nearly a third of Australia’s diesel fuel vehicles are driven by either semi/unskilled workers (18.3%) or skilled workers (14.4%) with both over-represented as drivers while a further 22.5% are professionals/managers.
Although farmers represent less than 2% of all diesel fuel vehicle drivers they are the most over-represented – 185% more likely to drive a diesel fuel vehicle than the average Australian equivalent to an index value of 285.
Diesel fuel drivers over-represented in country areas and Queensland & WA
Diesel fuel drivers overwhelmingly men and a majority aged 35-64
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source, January – November 2017 sample = 1,443 Australians aged 18+ who mostly drive a diesel fuel vehicle as their main vehicle.
Diesel fuel vehicles by Helix Personas
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source, January – November 2017 sample = 1,443 Australians aged 18+ who mostly drive a diesel fuel vehicle as their main vehicle.
Analysing Australia’s diesel fuel vehicle drivers by Helix Personas reveals Leading Lifestyles drive more diesel fuel vehicles than any other Persona although as Australia’s largest cohort a Leading Lifestyler is still 6% less likely to drive a diesel fuel vehicle than the average Australian with an equivalent Index value of 94.
In comparison, the most over-represented drivers of diesel fuel vehicles are represented by members of Today’s Families with an index value of 140, Golden Years with an index value of 120 and Aussie Achievers with an Index value of 112.
The heavily urbanised and younger Metrotechs are a huge 42% less likely to drive a diesel fuel vehicle than the average Australian and comprise only 6.2% of those Australians who mostly drive a diesel fuel vehicle.
What types of diesel vehicles do Australians drive?
Analysing the diesel vehicles Australians drive reveals the most popular type of diesel vehicle in Australia is the SUV driven by 40.7% of Australians who primarily drive a diesel vehicle. Leading SUV diesel vehicles include Mazda CX-5, Hyundai Tucson and Toyota RAV4.
Just over a quarter of Australians, 25.2%, who primarily drive diesel vehicles drive utes including models such as the Holden Colorado, Mitsubishi Triton and Volkswagen Amarok while a further 21.4% drive diesel engine four door sedans or station wagons such as the Ford Mondeo and VW Passat.
Although sales of diesel fuel vehicles are very evenly split between city dwellers and those in country and regional areas there are differences between the types of diesel fuel vehicles each drive. City dwellers are especially attracted to SUVs, four-door sedans and people movers whereas country Australians favour utes and two-door sedans.
Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan, says the latest scandal involving German automotive manufacturers testing diesel exhaust on monkeys puts a spotlight on diesel vehicles:
“Over 2.23 million Australians drive diesel fuel vehicles including SUVs such as the Mazda CX-5, Hyundai Tucson and Toyota RAV4 and 45% of Australians say they would seriously consider buying a diesel fuel vehicle.
“The spread of diesel fuel vehicles in Australia is split down the middle between those in the city and country but city-dwellers favour SUVs, four door sedans and people movers whilst country Australians favour utes and two-door sedans and are 36% more likely to drive a diesel fuel vehicle than the average Australian.
“Diesel fuel vehicles are most over-represented in the vehicle fleets in Australia’s two largest States by area of WA and Queensland, although NSW as the largest State has more diesel vehicle drivers in total, almost 650,000, than any other State.
“Analysing Australians who drive diesel fuel vehicles by the psychographic segmentation tool Helix Personas shows that although the largest single Helix Persona for diesel fuel vehicles is Leading Lifestyles comprising 22.9% of diesel fuel drivers over half of Australia’s diesel fuel vehicles are driven by Battlers (19.3%), Today’s Families (17.0%) or Golden Years (13.5%) and all three of these Helix Personas are over-represented as diesel drivers.
“It’s yet to be seen whether the latest scandal involving German manufacturers testing diesel exhaust on monkeys, and consenting humans, will have a negative impact on the sale of diesel engine vehicles in Australia.”
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Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
