Toyota to Stop Selling Diesel Cars in Europe

Release Time：08 Mar,2018

<p style="text-align:center;"> <img src="/membcentre/editor/attached/image/20180308/20180308090933_52110.jpg" alt="" /> </p> <p> Beginning the phase-out this year, Toyota announced on March 5 that it will stop selling diesel cars in Europe. </p> <p> <br /> </p> <p> "We will not develop new diesel technology for passenger cars, we'll continue to focus on hybrid vehicles,” said &nbsp;Johan van Zyl, president of Toyota Motor Europe, said in Geneva, where Europe's first major car show of the year opens this week. </p> <p> <br /> </p> <p> Last year nearly 15% of Toyota's sales in Europe were from diesel vehicles, down from 30% in 2012. </p> <p> <br /> </p> <p> Meanwhile, sales of Toyota's hybrid models have risen sharply. </p> <p> <br /> </p> <p> An emissions cheating scandal, which blew up at Volkswagen in 2015, has heaped discredit on diesel technology, criticized for belching out nitrogen oxide and harmful particulates. </p> <p> <br /> </p> <p> This has been a major blow for car makers, who had essentially sought to bet the house on diesel as they strove for years to cut CO2 emissions with the support of public authorities. </p> <p> <br /> </p> <p> Major cities including Paris have announced plans to ban diesel, while a top German court last month opened the way for cities to ban older diesel cars from the streets on air quality grounds. </p> <p> <br /> </p> <p> Diesel's fall from grace has pushed manufacturers to turn their attention to producing more in-demand petrol models or make the jump to electric, or at least hybrid, vehicles. </p> <p> <br /> </p> <p> Toyota vice president Didier Leroy said that back in 2011, before "Dieselgate" erupted, the company had "already started to anticipate the fact that we should not allocate resources to develop a new small diesel engine." </p>