Honda Australia said 90 per cent of its local sales will consist of hybrid vehicles by mid-2026 – when the Prelude coupe is scheduled to return as a hybrid – compared to roughly half of its current volume.
Hybrid models made up 53 per cent of Honda sales here across May and June 2025, despite its best-selling model – the CR-V – only offering hybrid power in its top trim level.
That percentage is even better than market-leader Toyota Australia, which saw hybrids make up 46 per cent of its sales in the first six months of 2025.
“That [roughly half hybrid sales] trend will continue for the balance of this year,” said Honda Australia managing director Rob Thorp during a media event in Melbourne.
“But as we go into next year, there are going to be a number of changes to our lineup which I think will accelerate that even more.”
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Mr Thorp confirmed updated versions of both the CR-V and ZR-V are set for arrival in Australia in the second quarter (April-June) 2026 and will offer a hybrid powertrain across more model grades.
“Those models will expand a hybrid offering quite significantly and will see us introduce a new four-wheel drive hybrid powertrain to the lineup,” the Honda boss said.
“It means over 80 per cent of our products will be hybrid … and nearly 90 per cent of our sales will be hybrid in nature by this time next year.”
Honda’s hybrids – which it calls e:HEVs – in Australia are currently all front-wheel drive.
That’s pretty standard in the small SUV segment, but in the mid-size SUV segment – where the CR-V and ZR-V sit – rivals such as the Toyota RAV4 and Nissan X-Trail e-Power offer hybrid power combined with all-wheel drive systems.
The growing ranks of Honda hybrids will include the reborn Prelude sports car, which will make its return to Australian showrooms after a 25-year absence, using an electrified powertrain.
It’ll be sportier than the standard Civic and Accord, sharing components including suspension, brakes and other parts with the petrol-powered Civic Type R hot hatch.
Yet Honda Australia said the Prelude is “not a volume model”, with 94 per cent of its total sales in the first half of 2025 made up of its SUVs – the CR-V, ZR-V and smaller HR-V.
“If you look at the market year-on-year, while it is down, growth of SUVs where we [Honda] play in most of the time, the growth of SUVs is all in hybrid,” said Mr Thorp.
“BEV [battery-electric vehicles] is pretty flat, ICE [internal combustion engines] is declining, but all the growth is in hybrid technology … I think it’s a reflection of what customers want.”
“For a long time [at Honda Australia] it’s been a strategy built on hybrid before a transition to BEV – and fundamentally, that strategy we’ve held out for a number of years has not ultimately changed.
“We think that even right now, while BEVs are penetrating the market – there’s a lot of noise about – in reality the hybrids are the choice for consumers.”
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