Carmakers double spending on ads in Australia for SUVs and utes

Passenger cars and light commercial vehicles contribute 60% of Australia’s transport emissions and more than 10% of Australia’s total emissions. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

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.