No More Iq ?!?!

[TimTaylor]

Having a chat with the local dealer today (they phoned me with some special VIP offer... ), and mentioned I would probably take the satnav option when I swap my car in a couple of years time. He informs me Toyota will have stopped making the IQ by then.

Is this for real? The IQ is the best car I've ever owned. It is PERFECT for my needs! I don't want the tin can Aygo, and the Yaris just isn't to my liking.

Am I really going to end up in a Ford Ka???

[Devon Aygo]

The normal model cycle is around 5-6 years so yes the IQ in its current form will be gone but there will most likely be a replacement model by then.

[FROSTYBALLS]

The new Aygo will be out in 2014 as well.

[Cyker]

Yes, the new IQ! It will be like the existing IQ but 3 feet wider with an innovative 3-abreast seating configuration! :D

[johnan]

I read the IQ was to become electric powered and released in the US before elsewhere, but the world does not seem to be fully ready for purely electric vehicles so Toyota have dropped the idea.

So maybe that is the end of any IQ, petrol, diesel or electric for the future.

The IQ is a well kept secret, hardly advertised, so the Aygo satisfies the cheaper market and the Yaris the slightly upmarket market leaving the IQ in a slightly impractical un-needed position.

It is only after you have had one that you realise how good it is.

Maybe scarcity will enhance its value.

John

[FROSTYBALLS]

I think there is still a market niche for the IQ. In Europe it gives Toyota an offering in the premium city car segment, to compete with the Fiat 500, etc. The Yaris is firmly in the B segment (supermini). In the US the IQ provides Toyota with a car in their city car segment. The IQ has been on sale in Europe for 4 years, so in another 18 months will be due for replacement.

[IQ1111]

I don't know the UK figures but Toyota could sell 456 new iQs only from January to June in Germany. Not many. MCC have sold more than 15,000 Smart cars here and VW nearly 22,000 Ups during the first six months of 2013. I guess that explains it all. The demand is much too low for the iQ and Toyota aren't niche vehicle manufacturers.

[Cyker]

I must admit those figures seem low given how many IQ's I've seen around; I see more of them than I do Mk3 Yarisususes!

The IQ is popular with people who want something like a Smart Car, only not rubbish

(While I think they are ugly and disproportioned, the IQ is amazingly comfy inside; It literally feels like you're in a much bigger car, like an Avensis or something. The illusion breaks if you look behind tho' )

[tarquin]

Best stock up on spares then. My Peugeot 406 did 257,000miles when i reluctantly sold it and its still going strong just passed 300,000. You can see see it as a cortina MK1 collectors item

David

[Lorna2]

It would be a shame if the discontinued the iQ. I think its a great looking car and was considering getting one last time but got the Yaris instead. I think if the iQ had of had the Toyota Touch I would have got it.

[FROSTYBALLS]

In the first quarter of 2013 458 IQ's were newly registered in the UK. You cannot really compare sales of the Up to the IQ, as the Up competes more effectively with the Aygo, both on price and body (three/five door hatchback).

[IQ1111]

Allegedly sales figures in the USA and Canada haven't been encouraging either with 2,309 and 278 units respectively (01 - 06/2013).

[FROSTYBALLS]

In the UK IQ registrations peaked in 2009 at about 7,642; 2010 - 4,392; 2011 - 2,802; 2012 - 2,603; first quarter of 2013 - 458. Total of 17,897 between 2009 and the first quarter of 2013. Suppose for the whole of 2013 sales look likely to be 1,600 to 1,800.

Compare these to two models which were discontinued in the UK in 2012/13:

2,134 Verso S were first registered between 2011 and 2013

4,743 Urban Cruisers were first registered in the UK between 2009 and 2013

458 IQ's have been first registered in the first quarter of 2013, whereas for the Verso S 614 were registered in the whole of 2012 and 127 in the first quarter of 2013, and for the Urban Cruiser 654 in the whole of 2012 and 3 in the first quarter of 2013.

[FROSTYBALLS]

"Am I really going to end up in a Ford Ka???"

There is speculation that as the current Ka isn't selling, that the next generation will be based on the next generation Ford Figo - a car for developing markets based on the mark V Fiesta - as part of Ford's One Car strategy, may be five doors only, and may be launched 2014/15.