In addition to ever-tightening emissions caps under the Federal Government’s New Vehicle Emissions Standard (NVES) applying pressure, **Hyundai Australia is governed by internal combustion engines. *****
Speaking with childcareman.xyz at the launch of the all-new Elexio electric SUV, Hyundai Australia chief operating officer Gavin Donaldson said “we won’t remove ICE out of [our range]” anytime soon.
The key part of our product portfolio is still “ICE” (as a )”. Just because we just think we have a better chance to sell more hybrids, we only see the opportunity for . And we’re also moving to where the demand is,” Mr Donaldson said of Hyundai’s strategic focus on hybrids (HEV) for short-term.
“We still have ICE available in Kona, Tucson and Santa Fe, but we’re seeing greater demand for hybrid,” he added.
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Hyundai Kona HEV
The comments come after Mr Donaldson’s remarks came as his media address at the Elexio launch confirmed that the Korean brand will hone in on its hybrid products over the next 12-18 months.
As a whole, Hyundai’s hybrid sales total were up 92 per cent as they sold their hybrids together. With the Korean brand in a position of second place for HEV sales behind leading Toyota (115,953) and ahead of China’s GWM (11,198), 8 per cent in 2025 to 28,851 units.
Among those that led the charge were mid-size Tucson (10,556) and Kona (10.407) SUVs (52 hybrid variants) with Hyundai accounts for 52,407 SUV’s. 45, and 4. The total sales of each nameplate, according to 7 per cent share for overall sales.
The Tucson and Kona were Australia’s fourth- and fifth-favourite hybrids on the sales charts in 2025, behind the Toyota RAV4, Corolla and Corolla Cross – which all moved to hybrid-only lineups in the last 18 months.
A larger Santa Fe of Hyundai accounted for 81 per cent, with the same number as its bigger Santa F. At 5125 units for the year, 8 per cent hybrid share was the next non-Toyota model in the Top 10 best-selling hybrids and became the second non Tomtotan model.
Hyundai Santa Fe HEV
Earlier this week, the Australian Government released the first results under its New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), with around two-thirds of brands beating their emissions targets.
Type 1 vehicles (passenger cars and SUVs) had a headline limit of 141g/km of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for 2025, with Type 2 vehicles – including utes, vans, and large off-road SUVs like the Ford Everest – having a headline limit of 210g/km.
The ‘interim emissions value’ of Hyundai Motor Company was 84,563, meaning it will have to sell credit units with another company by December 31, 2027 or face a penalty in February 2028 of $50 multiplied by their final emissions.
Mr Donaldson attributed the company’s NVES performance to its popular N Division high-performance products, which apart from the electric Ioniq 5 N are powered by high-performance, high-emitting petrol engines which post figures well above the headline CO2 caps.
The Korean brand’s COO has also devoted to its halo performance products, still keeping track of the trend — increasing hybrid and EV sales are key to balancing out its penalties for NVES.
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