Toyota is unlikely to ever launch another diesel-powered car in Europe, the firm’s executive vice president has said at the Tokyo motor show.
Although he stressed that it was a personal view rather than a company ruling, Didier Leroy said he believed that the firm’s success with petrol-based and plug-in hybrids had proved that it was no longer necessary to offer private buyers diesels.
“My personal opinion - and this is my personal opinion, not a company one - is no, we’ll not launch another diesel car,” he said. Leroy is regarded as the second most powerful decision-maker at Toyota, behind CEO Akio Toyoda.
Leroy added that his view was established in 2014, prior to Dieselgate, when he signed off production of the Toyota C-HR crossover without the option of a diesel powertrain, despite opposition from some dealers.
Tokyo motor show 2017 - full report and gallery
“We took the view, a long time ago, that we would not sell the C-HR [crossover] with a diesel engine,” said Leroy. “At the time, the distributors were against my decision. They said they needed diesel for the market. But we needed to follow the long-term trend of eco-vehicles.”
The CH-R has been a massive sales success for Toyota in Europe, pushing its sales of SUVs up from 12% of its total in 2016 to 30% this year, according to JATO data.
Diesel sales have slumped across Europe, including in the UK, in 2017, as a result of growing public awareness of NOx pollution and punitive legislative measures on older diesels.Following the launch of the CH-R, Toyota has taken the same petrol or petrol-hybrid only course with the new Toyota Yaris, although a diesel is offered in limited numbers to fleet customers.
It does continue to sell older, larger cars equipped with diesel engines, many of which are sourced from BMW, but Leroy intimated that these options will be phased out with each all-new product update.
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Ok
I mean, i don't like diesels, so its fine by me, but if i'm not mistaken they still make for 30% of Auris sales. Will he be willing to throw out 40-50k sales for the sake of trying to appear cool and green?
Not to mention RAV4 sales, Land Cruisers, Hiluxes... How will those do without diesels?
tuga wrote:
My thoughts exactly, especially with regard to large 4x4s and pick-up trucks, surely they still need diesels, surely anyone who tows needs diesel as well so there's still a market requirement. The problem was soley down to europes taxation on co2 causing people to buy and run diesels in cities doing short runs where petrol or hybrid would have been better. I'm not a diesel fan but I do think it still suits some peoples needs.
tuga wrote:
I think they won;t develop their own diesels ( donpt thik they have for a while now) in the interim oeriods, just buy them from BMW or someone else..,,
Well done Toyota!
Dirty diesels should be legislated out of existence as soon as possible.
No diesels
Lexus have also done this - before the pedants come on here, yes, I know Lexus is part of Toyota. The most recent IS is not available in diesel form. The Avensis is still available as a diesel or at least the taxis that take us to the airport are clearly diesel.
Bristolbluemanc wrote:
Lexus never was big into diesel, preferring petrol and hybrid engines. To an extent it prevented their growth in the UK as BMW, Audi etc had company car diesel tax specials.