European Emissions Regulations Drive the Toyota GR Yaris' Price Up By Almost 100 Percent
Europe has, and will likely remain, far more aggressive with emissions-cutting measures than we are here in the United States. Strict climate-related regulations on the Old Continent mean that gas vehicles – even those that we consider relatively efficient here – are extremely expensive and difficult to find. That’s how the 2024 Toyota GR Yaris, a car powered by an (admittedly powerful and turbocharged) three-cylinder engine, costs nearly double its sticker price in France.
Motor1 reported that the 2024 GR Yaris starts at 46,300 Euros, but its emissions add another 45,990 Euros to that price. The WLTP standard (think EPA equivalent), which European vehicles are measured against, estimates emissions of 190 grams per kilometer for the car, leading to that absurd fee. That effectively makes the car more than 92,000 Euros with the manual transmission and almost 109,000 Euros for the newly introduced automatic variant.
Electric vehicles have become an unnecessarily politicized product in the U.S., but it’s clear we should all be thankful that we’re not facing steep taxes and penalties for continuing to buy gas vehicles. We might face extreme dealer markups and have a hard time finding cars like the GR Corolla (we don’t get the homologation Yaris) or the Honda Civic Type R (costs almost $90k in The Netherlands), but we at least are not taxed again after shelling out the cash for a performance car with a gas engine.
[Image: Toyota]
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Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.
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Wow, that sucks. Glad I'm not in Europe.
Expensive. But hey, drive and or buy GR Yaris in the US..............you can't for 25 years.
On a more serious note. The author should of included the table for the emissions tariff on vehicles in the EU. Low emitting ICE vehicles attract no emissions tax. Granted these are quite small and efficient ICE vehicles.
I also read some EU nations are reducing or removing EV grants so this might be another alternative to change the auto culture to EVs. So, hybrids seem to best all round option.
I do see some people talking up the US, but, you drive large pickups and SUVs for a reason. You already have CAFE which sort of done the same but the Big 2 and Chrysler lobbied the Government to have different rules for pickups and SUVs.
Here in Australia we have no emission standards. There are discussions within the Federal Government in introducing emissions standards which will be good.
I think this is the direction of most OECD economies. The less reliance we have on all fossil fuels the less we will be involved in useless wars.
Europe has a history of socialism and these people hate nothing more than individual freedom
Not really, and freedom and socialism are not opposites.
I can't speak for all of Europe, but here in Amsterdam, 20 million people a year visit us for our freedoms, and this is for a city with a population of 1million. Weed, sex, mushroom, alcohol, all widely sold. Economic freedom, freedom from poverty, freedom from homelessness, housing as a legal right, with government capped rents at about $1000/mo (for about 30% of the housing stock). I rarely, maybe once a month, see homeless people or beggars in the city. My private health insurance out of pocket is capped at $400/year, including drugs, and my mandatory monthly open market health insurance covers everything, and costs $150/month.
There is also no fear of violence. There were 11 murders in Amsterdam last year, and the country is similar, with 1/10th of the US's per capita rate. You can walk around the red light district late at night and you will barely see a police office, despite all the drunk, vomiting British tourists.
We allow these things because we try to be free without harming each other. Its a difficult balance, but freedom dosn't mean I get to do wahtever I want. It is a social concept, and behavior that harms many (exhaust, homelessness, guns) is judged detrimental, while those that harm few (drugs, sex) are more willingly tolerated.
Penty of people here drive ICEs. My downstairs neighbors owns 2 cars (and 3 bikes) within a mile of the city center. But any shared resource necessitates regulations and agreements. Treating the atmosphere as an open sewer does not represent freedom.
There are also plenty of problems, but the US has plenty of restrictions on individual freedoms that are accepted without thinking, mostly puritanical ones.
Maybe ICE manufacturers should be charged for health costs associated with burning fuel, and oil companies should be billed for the cost of military support for their product, and the effects of their drilling. Then we can see the true costs. Insurance companies are very good at determining these things.