Toyota Avalon discontinued after 2022
The list of cars that have fallen victim to the popularity of SUVs continues to grow. After Chrysler got the ball rolling more than five years ago with the 200, followed by Ford and GM, other Asian and German automakers have announced the retirement of their sedan lineage. The most recent in the list is the Toyota Avalon, which will not live in North America after the 2022 model year according to a recent report unearthed by Automotive News.
The media reported that Toyota had notified its suppliers to the effect that the production of the Toyota Avalon would cease, at least at the Georgetown, Ky. plant. Consequently, the car would be eliminated from the North American portfolio of the manufacturer. In fact, only production at the Tianjin, China plant would be continued, so the car would still be sold in the Chinese market, still fond of sedans.
It must be said that the popularity of the Toyota Avalon was not particularly great, despite the addition of an all-wheel drive variant last year. In fact, only 38 were sold in 2020 in Quebec, a considerable drop compared to the 76 sold in 2019. It is hardly better in Canada when only 209 units found buyers in 2020, a decrease by nearly 50% compared to the 405 Avalon sold in 2019. As an indication, sales in the United States capped at 18,421 units in 2020, a drastic drop compared to 2013, a year in which nearly 71 000 Avalon have been sold in the United States.
At the Kentucky plant, no employee would lose their job. It’s a safe bet that Toyota will increase the production of other models also assembled at this plant. In addition to the Lexus ES and Toyota Camry, this plant produces the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, a vehicle that is growing in popularity in North America.
The abandonment of the Toyota Avalon leaves the field open to the few remaining models in this segment. The most popular – all things being relative – remains the Dodge Charger, with 174 units sold in Quebec (1,659 in Canada) in 2020 while the other two contenders have more anemic sales. The Chrysler 300 sold 65 units in Quebec (447 in Canada) in 2020 while the Nissan Maxima charmed only 104 Quebec consumers (851 in Canada) for the same period. It is a segment, so to speak, on the way out.
