Toyota rules out diesel and bets on electric and hydrogen cars by 2025

Toyota is one of the brands that has decided to embrace new technologies and say goodbye to diesel across its vehicle range. A company executive has confirmed that the sales success of hybrid cars has shown that it is no longer necessary to offer customers diesel vehicles.

Didier Leroy, executive vice president of Toyota in Europe, stated at the recent Tokyo Motor Show, that the brand may never again put a diesel car on the market. “In my personal opinion, I would not launch another diesel car,” Leroy said.

The brand’s main goal at this time is to progressively reduce diesel and petrol engines as models are updated. The vice president explained in Tokyo that, with the launch of the Toyota C-HR and its recent announcement of a restyle, which did not offer a diesel option, the change in market mindset and the decline in sales of traditional fuel vehicles has been confirmed. The CH-R has been a great success for Toyota in Europe, raising its sales from 12% in 2016 to 30% this year.

In addition, Toyota believes that within a maximum period of seven years, hydrogen-powered vehicles will match the price of hybrids. The brand expects to reduce the production costs of fuel cell vehicles. “At the beginning of the 2020s, we will launch the next generation of hydrogen fuel cell technology, which will be a major breakthrough,” said Naomichi Hata, business development director at Toyota.

Currently, Toyota produces around 3,000 units of the Mirai per year and according to Naomichi Hata, by 2025 that figure will have increased tenfold. At the Tokyo Show the brand unveiled the second concept of a fuel cell car, the Fine Comfort Ride, a vehicle with a range of nearly 1,000 kilometres.

At Toyota they expect diesel vehicles to be gradually withdrawn across Europe. Countries such as Great Britain, the Netherlands and Paris have already announced that they will soon ban the sale of new diesel cars.