Carmakers have doubled how much they spend advertising SUVs and utes to Australians over the past decade, which has coincided with surging uptake of larger cars, triggering calls for a ban on advertising the highest polluting vehicles.
Advertising spends for SUVs and light commercial vehicles – a category which includes four-wheel drive utes – jumped from about $100m in 2010 to about $197m in 2022, according to analysis of digital, television, outdoor, radio, cinema and print advertising compiled by climate advocacy group Comms Declare.
Annual digital spend on advertising SUVs increased sevenfold from $7.8m in 2010 to $51.5m in 2022, while spending on light commercial vehicles increased 24 times over the same period, from $1.6m to $38.3m.
Efforts by car manufacturers to boost sales of larger cars occurred as Australians’ tastes shifted, with a corresponding 80% increase in sales of these vehicle types over the same period. Two-thirds of new vehicle sales in Australia in 2022 were SUVs, 4WDs or light commercial vehicles.
These categories also accounted for eight of the Top 10 bestselling models in 2022, according to Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries data, representing a marked shift from a decade ago when sedans and hatchbacks dominated the list of most popular vehicles in Australia.
Meanwhile, carmakers dramatically decreased how much they spent advertising conventional passenger cars. In 2010, manufacturers spent about $191m advertising micro, small, medium and large passenger cars, but by 2022 this had dropped to just under $19m.
The market share of standard passenger cars has dropped from 55% in 2011, to just under 19% in 2022.
In its report Rammed: The advertising that’s killing our climate goals, Comms Declare flagged the instant asset write-off scheme as one factor that may have incentivised uptake of heavier, more polluting vehicles in recent years, but notes the threshold will drop from $150,000 to $20,000 from the new financial year.
Thinktanks including Grattan Institute, The Australia Institute and various transport academics have also identified fringe benefits tax, temporary full expensing policy and the loss carry-back tax offset as tax perks to bring larger vehicles within reach to more Australians, especially for small business owners regardless of their industry.
The report notes government data finding that reductions in transport-related C02 emissions since 2022 have levelled off , and warns that without reining in the growth of higher polluting vehicles, transport will be Australia’s highest source of emissions by 2030.
Passenger cars and light commercial vehicles contribute 60% of Australia’s transport emissions, which amount to more than 10% of Australia’s total emissions.
Despite the Albanese government committing to introduce a fuel-efficiency standard, Australia’s laws remain some of the most relaxed among comparable countries, which has seen manufacturers funnel their least efficient models to the Australian market due to a lack of such standards, while reserving more electric car stock for countries with stricter rules.
The Comms Declare report found that 55% of all new passenger vehicles sold in Australia in 2021 had an emissions intensity of more than 160 g/km, compared with just 10% in Europe, Recent analysis from The Australia Institute also found surging SUV ownership means Australians are needlessly spending an extra $13bn a year to fuel their cars.
The Comms Declare report also observed a shift in where carmakers spend their marketing budgets, away from traditional media.
Of the $600m spent on automotive advertising in Australia in 2022, more than 60% was for brand sponsorship arrangements “aligning with major sporting events, environmental initiatives, home improvement, music events, social and medical services, adventure and holidays”.
“All these sponsorships are designed to build brand awareness and trust in customers. In the case of environmental initiatives, this is outright greenwashing.”
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“Brands blithely align high-polluting vehicles with the enjoyment of activities in nature, all the while causing damage to it.”
The report makes a specific criticism of Toyota – which with 21.4% of the market is the largest automotive player in Australia.
It observed Toyota’s digital advertising spend has focused on models including the HiLux and LandCruiser, which are among the worst polluters. At the same time, the report notes Toyota’s involvement with National Tree Day, and accused the company of greenwashing.
Comms Declare is calling for a ban on advertising fossil fuels and that, as a first step, banning advertising only for the most oversized vehicles is “a sensible and achievable method of reducing emissions”.
Belinda Noble, Comms Declare founder, said “carmakers are taking us for a ride, pushing sales of the largest, most profitable vehicles while ignoring the health, safety and climate impacts”.
“Restricting advertising of these supersized gas guzzlers should be considered to help reverse this dangerous trend,” Noble said.
Robin Smit, an adjunct associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney and founder and director at Transport Energy/Emission Research, said: “The reduction in emissions from simply shifting to smaller cars is similar to emissions from domestic aviation and domestic shipping combined.”
Dr Chris Jones, president of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association, called for a road user charge in Australia to make it cheaper to operate lighter vehicles to reverse the trend towards utes and SUVs.
A Toyota spokesperson said “there has been a significant increase in demand for SUVs, including here in Australia” over the past two decades.
“As a result, Toyota Australia has prioritised the delivery and allocation of this category to meet growing consumer demand.”
Regarding Toyota’s support for National Tree Day, the spokesperson said “over 66,000 communities across Australia have benefited from the planting of trees and shrubs” in the 24 years it has been involved with the program.
