Two of Toyota’s most popular hatchbacks, the Corolla and Yaris, will no longer be available in petrol versions in Australia.
As of Thursday, Toyota will only sell gasoline-electric hybrid versions of the cars.
The manufacturer cited ‘consumer demand’ as the reason for the change, noting that buyers want more efficient transportation over traditional gasoline-powered cars, despite hybrids being more expensive.
The move has killed the dream of Australians looking to buy a new Corolla or Yaris for under $30,000 with the base price of the Yaris SX Hybrid, once Toyota’s cheapest car in Australia, now at $30,190 before on-road costs and the Corolla Ascent Sport Hybrid hatch at $32,110.
That’s a $3,000 jump from the $29,610 base price of the gas Ascent Sport hatch.
Two of Toyota’s most popular cars, the Corolla and the Yaris (pictured) hatchback, will only be sold as hybrids from Thursday
The Hybrid Corolla’s 1.8-litre powertrain produces 103kW of power from 4.0L/100km on its combined cycle.
That’s down two liters from the now-defunct petrol powertrain, which used 6.0L/100km.
Meanwhile, the Yaris’ 1.5-litre petrol hybrid produces 85kW of power at 3.3L/100km on the combined cycle, while the petrol version used 4.9L/100km.
Toyota’s hybrid switch does not include its GR Yaris and GR Corolla, which it will continue to offer in turbocharged petrol models.
Toyota Australia vice president of sales and marketing, Sean Hanley, said the move ‘comes due to natural consumer demand’.
‘We have advised the dealers that from today we will no longer accept orders for petrol variants of the Yaris hatch and Corolla hatch. This is due to natural consumer demand,’ he told the media.
“There are no direct incentives and there is certainly no legislation. It is driven by changing consumer behavior – behaviors and choices that Toyota has played a significant role in encouraging.’
Hanley denied that the decision to scrap the petrol-powered Yaris and Corolla hatches was due to the federal government’s impending New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES).
The new fuel standard will penalize automakers whose average fleet emissions are above a set cap.
Toyota has recently lobbied for the federal government to consider “measures similar to those that accompanied the introduction of fuel standards in the United States and many parts of Europe”.
The price of a new Corolla (pictured) now starts at $32,110 before on-road costs – a jump of almost $3,000 from the $29,610 base price of the petrol Ascent Sport hatch
“These include transition schemes, super credits, consumer support mechanisms and investment in recharging infrastructure to help promote the deployment of new technologies,” Hanley said.
‘Without these measures, NVES risks leaving customers behind and leading to unintended consequences that could defeat the intent of the proposed standard.’
In its submission, Toyota called for different sizes of passenger cars to have different CO2 targets.
If accepted, it would see Toyota’s LandCruiser 300 series judged by different standards to its smaller vehicles, such as the Corolla.
