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File photo. Toyota Yaris Bloomberg via Getty Images

Toyota to cease all production of diesel cars this year

It said sales of diesel cars have fallen dramatically in Ireland.

JAPANESE CAR MAKER Toyota has said that it will phase out production of all diesel engine cars by the end of this year.

With sales of diesel cars falling in Ireland, the company said it would help to contribute to a zero emissions society with its decision.

Toyota will now focus on making self-charging hybrid cars that it says are being purchased more and more in the Irish market.

It said that diesel passenger car sales have seen a 17% year-on-year decline between January 2017 and 2018, with sales of diesel cars only 20% of its overall sales, compared to 60% just a few years ago.

Toyota Ireland said that sales of hybrid cars now makes up 50% of its Irish market.

Its CEO here, Steve Tormey said that the move will “help deliver cleaner air quality for our future and that of our children’s children”.

Commenting on the decision, Minister for the Environment Denis Naughten said: “As a country we have no option but to move towards a zero emissions vehicle society to help protect our environment, improve our health and to ensure the next generation doesn’t suffer from complacency or inaction now.

Climate change requires all of us to make changes and Toyota’s initiative will significantly help lead us on our low-carbon journey.

Ireland has already said it will seek to curtail the sale of diesel cars in the future and a number of other car manufacturers have already begun moving to no- or low-emission vehicles.

Volkswagen says it will invest €34 billion in new technologies by 2022. Like other traditional carmakers, Volkswagen is stepping up its focus on the cleaner, smarter vehicles of the future, racing to catch up with US tech giant Tesla which has a head-start in the area.

France has formally said that it will end sales of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040 and Volvo Cars plans to start phasing out production of conventional petrol-only cars from 2019, with all new models to be electric or hybrid from that date.

Ireland has already been warned that it is unlikely to meet its own targets on reducing carbon emissions, and was recently ranked the worst performing country in Europe for taking action against climate change.

Read: The Paris Climate Agreement is REALLY expensive… but it could end up saving us money

Read: Irish cities among worst affected in Europe, say flooding predictions

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    Mute Paul Gorry
    Favourite Paul Gorry
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    Jul 26th 2022, 12:25 AM

    Ahhhhhhh its a great little country ain’t it. No future for any young person/s looking to get on the housing ladder. Because when ye eventually get the holy grail loan approved ye be gazzumpd by the the very people who offered ye the house in the first place.KIP.

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    Mute Marc Johns
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    Jul 26th 2022, 2:42 AM

    The Davos Wokes, of which Leo is a ‘young global leader’ have told you straight up that you will own nothing and you WILL be happy about it. What part of this is confusing or continually a surprise for people?

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    Mute Ciaran Burke
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    Jul 26th 2022, 12:50 AM

    No way. Who would have thought that if you price gouged people, they wouldn’t have money to spend in the local economy? Well, colour me surprised.

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    Mute Billy Davies
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    Jul 26th 2022, 8:55 AM

    @Ciaran Burke: yep, the best time to by a house is now, as the property gurus would say…

    12
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    Mute Irish Opinion
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    Jul 26th 2022, 6:13 AM

    This is where the government will stand in and pay the rest so they can take equity and keep the prices high for their developer friends.

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    Mute marian
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    Jul 26th 2022, 7:20 AM

    Ireland is overrated!

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    Mute Mickety Dee
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    Jul 26th 2022, 7:25 AM

    @marian: Well the comments section would give you the impression it’s a third world country

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    Mute Christine Hanway
    Favourite Christine Hanway
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    Jul 26th 2022, 8:26 AM

    @Mickety Dee: well if you look at our housing and health depts, it keeps going the way it is it won’t be far off.

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    Mute Claudia Varell
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    Jul 26th 2022, 8:39 AM

    @Mickety Dee: When you look at the infrastructure and the health system, Ireland is closer to African countries than to continental Europe. The quality of life is higher than in most EU countries, but the standard of life is much lower.

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    Mute Sequoia
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    Jul 26th 2022, 10:52 AM

    Never had an issue with the health department.

    Apart from the occasional wait in A&E – longest was 10 hours, while annoying, was totally understandable due to patient prioritisation.

    Yes there’s too many managers, yes money gets wasted, yea, the staff are underpaid & overworked, but when you think of the volume of people they’re seeing, it’s probably not that much based on percentages.

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    Mute Neuville-Kepler62F
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    Jul 26th 2022, 11:28 AM

    No one can solve the Housing crisis until the promised Referendum on Housing is run and passed asap.

    There is no provision in the Irish Constitution, unlike other advanced democracies, on the importance of affordable and secure housing ownership or rental and this is having dreadful consequences on many ordinary people who are left without the security of their own home.

    The Referendum must be run asap to enable all the legislation needed to remove the barriers to affordable homes. VAT alone is €28,000 on a new home – obscene. 37% of the price of new homes is “artificial” and can be removed by a Referendum.

    https://www.change.org/p/irish-referendum-on-family-home-special-status

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