Toyota Aygo successor could go electric – report

Launched in 2014, the Toyota Aygo is currently the Japanese brand’s only model sold in Europe without a hybrid option in the region, Automotive News Europe reports, noting that the car’s successor will continue to be in the minicar segment.

“The Aygo has been a very good product for us in terms of conquest and bringing younger people into our brand. We still see it as a good segment for us to be in,” CEO of Toyota Europe Johan Van Zyl said. Given the Aygo’s urban usage, its successor might become a purely electric vehicle, Van Zyl noted.

“Some cities are applying zero-emissions zones, so we must think about the future and say, ‘how are we going to ensure that we have an electrified version of an A (minicar) – or sub A-segment car that we’ll be able to utilize for these cities?’,” he said. Toyota’s development partners for the current Aygo – Peugeot and Citroen – have indicated that any replacement for it will have to be an EV, he added.

The Toyota Aygo is built in a joint plant with the PSA Group in Kolin, in the Czech Republic alongside the Peugeot 108 and the Citroen C1. 83,030 Toyota Aygos were sold in Europe in the first 10 months, representing a 3.7% growth, while 48,542 units of the Peugeot 108 (down 1.4%) and 44,399 units of the Citroen C1 (down 1.9%) were sold in that period.

Automakers are increasingly leaving the minicar segment due to the cost of updating them to meet tougher EU regulations for CO2 and NOx emissions, the report said. Replacing the Aygo with another petrol model could be unviable due to costs; updating a petrol-engined car to pass Euro 6d-Temp standards which are due next September will cost around 2,000 euros (RM9,253) per car, it added.

Toyota has three EVs planned for launch in Europe by 2021. One will be the fully electric version of its UX crossover, with another two expected to be a full-EV C-HR and a PSA Group-developed van, Automotive News Europe said, adding that Toyota will be able to continue selling the current Aygo without emissions penalties because hybrids account for more than half of the brand’s European sales, which helps in reducing its overall CO2 emissions.