Hybrid vehicles are becoming increasingly popular in Australia's second-hand car market as motorists look to conserve fuel.
The Australian Automotive Dealer Association and AutoGrab revealed the trends on Tuesday in used car sales figures from May, which also showed the automotive market had bounced back from a sales dip in April.
The news comes one week after new hybrid and electric vehicle sales broke records to represent almost half of all new cars sold in Australia during the month.
The latest sales report showed Australian drivers bought 221,323 second-hand vehicles during May, a rise of more than 17,700 cars compared with April.
Standard hybrid vehicles made up one in 10 used cars up to five years of age, while electric and plug-in hybrid models represented 6 per cent of sales.
Fuel costs drive hybrid demand
The trend towards electric and hybrid cars reflected consumer efforts to avoid petrol and diesel price rises caused by conflict in the Middle East, association chief executive James Voortman said.
"It's no surprise to see hybrids performing so strongly," he said.
"With household budgets still under pressure, many consumers are looking for ways to reduce fuel costs and hybrids offer a practical and proven solution."
Hybrid cars were also the most likely to withstand discounting to secure a sale, the report found, and retained 93.4 per cent of their value.
Buyers finding discounts
By contrast, more than half of second-hand petrol and diesel vehicles were discounted before finding a buyer in May.
"The increase in discounting reflects a strong level of competition in the used vehicle market at the moment," he said.
