Corolla Saloon Discontinued

[FROSTYBALLS]

12 minutes ago, Mooly said:

I just miss there being something on sale in the UK like the old Carina II 4door size of car from manufacturers such as Toyota.

The Mazda 3 and Mazda 6 saloons are still on sale in the UK ......

[dannyboy413]

On 1/21/2022 at 11:47 PM, Devon Aygo said:

Today Toyota GB announced that due a review of model portfolio and continuing customer purchase trends towards SUV body style Corolla Saloon is discontinued with immediate notice

Hopefully it is only the GB market and remains that way - I might want another one! 😊

[Mooly]

12 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

The Mazda 3 and Mazda 6 saloons are still on sale in the UK ......

To big unfortunately. Mazda 3 vs Carina E (which was a big car). 

Why it is to big for me:

https://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/202492-corolla-size-guide/?do=findComment&comment=1602209

 

 

[Cosminnn]

Other reason could be, Corolla Sedan is manufactured in Turkey or Turkiye (like the local dictator wants to change the country's name). I would foresee to much hassle to import for a GB reseller, considering now, besides TR also GB is outside EU as well.

[forkingabout]

1 hour ago, Cosminnn said:

Other reason could be, Corolla Sedan is manufactured in Turkey or Turkiye (like the local dictator wants to change the country's name). I would foresee to much hassle to import for a GB reseller, considering now, besides TR also GB is outside EU as well.

 

Cant see that as an excuse seeing as Turkey is where the C-HR is also manufactured & that is a very popular selling product here in the UK.

The Corolla saloon just isn't a product that the UK market want to purchase. 

 

[TonyHSD]

Well, people don’t buy saloon Toyotas because they haven’t been offered the one who worth buying them. Here it is an example. 

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

On 1/27/2022 at 7:51 AM, Cosminnn said:

Other reason could be, Corolla Sedan is manufactured in Turkey or Turkiye

The Corolla Verso (2004 onwards), 3 door Auris, and Verso, as well as the C-HR, were all Turkish made and this fact didn't hinder sales in the UK of these models.

As has been said previously saloons in this market sector just don't sell well in the UK, which is also borne out by the fact that Toyota GB decided not to import previous generations of the Corolla saloon between 2007 and 2018. 

VW dropped the Jetta in the UK due to low demand - for example between January and October 2017 just 379 examples of the Jetta were sold in the UK, compared to 5,398 Passats (next market sector up) for the same period.

[AisinW]

Saloon is not good for compact class in Europe, less practical.  Camry class is good but it offer only expensive trims, no LE trims like USA version that price the same as corolla 2.0L. 

I don't miss saloon cars at all. I prefer hatchback, tourer, or crossover. 

[forkingabout]

The UK over the last 25 / 30 years has never really liked buying small / medium saloon cars unless they have one of the " premium " German badges attached to them. 

The UK market for the Corolla saloon is so small it's not worth Toyota importing them any more.

[Stopeter44]

4 minutes ago, forkingabout said:

The UK market for the Corolla saloon is so small it's not worth Toyota importing them any more.

The thing I find strange, is that Ireland still has the Corolla saloon. It really is curious the difference in marketing between what could be considered similar markets. When one looks over the various EU websites the differences between say Portugal and Spain, or Italy and France, are really surprising sometimes.

[TonyHSD]

I agree with all that but also saloons like Corolla are very good cars especially for carrying passengers, great for town taxis or motorway commute, travel. They have a large boots, as big as estate , they are better sound insulated and more aerodynamic than both hatchback and estate. , i will happily enjoy a Corolla saloon over hatchback or estate if I can buy the one with the spec I can have in hatchback or estate , sadly never been possible in uk. 

[dannyboy413]

Purely out of interest, as I have no idea of the tax or import duties etc., involved, but would it be much dearer to buy a saloon in Ireland - for immediate export - and import it into the UK? I have the saloon bought two years ago and I think it is the nicest looking Corolla by a mile, (or kilometre if still in Ireland! 😁).

[TonyHSD]

Can’t help with import taxes but watching other eu markets Toyota what offers and I can not believe it, the saloon is an amazing car but wrongly configured for the uk and no wonder no one wanted it. Just look here if you can translate the page will be easy, money wise the price comes at half in British pounds. 👍

Also other models especially Yaris availability are unreal, trims , specs, engines. https://www.toyota.bg/new-cars/corolla-sedan/build.COROLLA.040.3b56e3f0-96cf-4bfc-badd-89b2e54eca72.html?path=customize/65bfd91d-f2a8-4cbb-bdbc-3834b400492a/3b56e3f0-96cf-4bfc-badd-89b2e54eca72&c=94c9fd2e-78c9-4e8b-bf96-c32bba579cdd&u=962a557a-0c53-442d-9314-811a2d3cf0b0&financeOption=cash&filterEquipment=

[Cyker]

I get the impression it's very expensive to homologate a car in the UK compared to other countries, so maybe they just don't want to spend all that money on homologation if the sales are so low. Apparently they have to homologate individual trim levels too, which is why the choice sucks so much. It doesn't help that Toyota GB don't seem to understand their core customers and/or are trying to go after people who normally get German cars!

What I don't get, if this is the case, is why e.g. VW can offer so many more trims and options - Do they get some sort of discount as they are a european country, whereas toyota being japanese has to pay full whack?

[bunnyrabbit03]

40 minutes ago, Cyker said:

I get the impression it's very expensive to homologate a car in the UK compared to other countries, so maybe they just don't want to spend all that money on homologation if the sales are so low. Apparently they have to homologate individual trim levels too, which is why the choice sucks so much. It doesn't help that Toyota GB don't seem to understand their core customers and/or are trying to go after people who normally get German cars!

What I don't get, if this is the case, is why e.g. VW can offer so many more trims and options - Do they get some sort of discount as they are a european country, whereas toyota being japanese has to pay full whack?

Was this limited UK choice already the case pre-Brexit? Because EU type approval is done in one country and then valid across the Union, i.e. the single market, the cost per unit is much less. Are new EU type approvals valid in the UK and vice versa or do new models have to be type approved specifically for the UK market now? If the UK requires its own type approval, this of course means less choice and/or higher costs. 

[FROSTYBALLS]

41 minutes ago, bunnyrabbit03 said:

Was this limited UK choice already the case pre-Brexit? Because EU type approval is done in one country and then valid across the Union, i.e. the single market, the cost per unit is much less. Are new EU type approvals valid in the UK and vice versa or do new models have to be type approved specifically for the UK market now? If the UK requires its own type approval, this of course means less choice and/or higher costs. 

From current guidance the situation as regards Type Approval in the UK seems to be as follows:

From January 2021 the UK has two versions of Whole Vehicle Type Approval -

1) UK(NI) which allows importers to sell vehicles in Great Britain (England, Scotland & Wales), and Northern Ireland, and

2) GB which allows importers to sell in Great Britain excluding Northern Ireland.

Manufacturers who hold a current Type Approval issued by an EU member state can sell in Northern Ireland, but will need to obtain provisional GB Type Approval to sell in Great Britain.

[FROSTYBALLS]

On 2/6/2022 at 9:24 AM, Stopeter44 said:

The thing I find strange, is that Ireland still has the Corolla saloon

This isn't the first time the saloon was dropped in the UK.

When the Auris hatchback was introduced in 2007, the equivalent Corolla saloon (2007-2013) was dropped due to low sales of the previous generation Corolla saloon (2001-2006).

When the second generation Auris hatchback/estate was introduced in 2012/13, again the equivalent Corolla saloon (2013-18) wasn't offered for sale in the UK because of potential low sales volumes.

Ireland is a different market, and saloons sell in larger volumes there.

[Mooly]

On 1/22/2022 at 8:10 PM, Mooly said:

One of the big advantages with a true saloon style is that the back window never gets dirty in wet weather, you could do a 100 motorway miles in the rain and it would remain dry and clear.

 

On 1/22/2022 at 8:49 PM, Cyker said:

Is that why saloons very rarely seem to have rear wipers??

I've always wondered about that...

This is 70mph in the rain on a very wet motorway. Not a hint of any moisture whatsoever, no spray mist... nothing. Its totally dry. No heated window on either.

[Devon Aygo]

On 2/8/2022 at 7:45 PM, bunnyrabbit03 said:

Was this limited UK choice already the case pre-Brexit? Because EU type approval is done in one country and then valid across the Union, i.e. the single market, the cost per unit is much less. Are new EU type approvals valid in the UK and vice versa or do new models have to be type approved specifically for the UK market now? If the UK requires its own type approval, this of course means less choice and/or higher costs. 

Type approval is complex and at present GB has agreed to stick with the EU rules and timescales as these are pre planned and laid out well in advance.

The UK as an individual markets is up there with the top sellers in the EU but we are awkward because we are RHD and this means specific type approval just for us whereas the EU can all share the LHD type approvals and the EU combined is a much larger market which can justify additional type approvals.

The rules require that any significant variation be tested in its own right and significant variations are Driving position, engine & body type , so at the beginning of UK Corolla sales there would have been 7 type approvals:

HB 1.2t, 1.8 & 2.0 Hybrid

TS 1.2t, 1.8 & 2.0 Hybrid

Saloon 1.8 Hybrid

Each of these type approvals allow a variation +/- of the tested model, in the case of the UK Toyota will test a mid spec model which will then allow them to offer a low spec Icon or high spec Excel but keep within the variation allowed by a single type approval whereas the EU which can guarantee a much higher sales figure can justify testing two types of the same model to allow a larger model variation.

Its a fine balancing act picking what spec to add or subtract when building a car an example on Corolla being Panoramic roof where its addition requires removal of a spare wheel to keep the car within its allowed margins even accessories weighing more than 1kg purchased and fitted pre registration count towards this limit