New sales are trending away from purely petrol-driven vehicles in the latest auto industry snapshot. Photo: Tony McDonough/AAP PHOTOS

Australian motorists are putting the brakes on petrol-powered vehicles and instead looking for ways to save fuel with hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric models.

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The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries revealed the trend on Thursday, releasing vehicle sales figures from October showing plug-in hybrids more than doubling in popularity over the year.

The statistics also show SUVs remained Australia's most popular vehicles by a large margin, while

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