Budget 2022 again encourages Irish drivers to choose lower-emitting vehicles as evidenced in the VRT changes, which is good news to move more drivers into sustainable driving such as self-charging hybrids, plug-in hybrids and BEVs. Though the change means that the average VRT impact for all car brands is €667, the average VRT impact for Toyota’s range is €291, due to the lower CO2 emissions from the self-charging hybrid range.
Toyota hybrids also maintain their advantage over competitors’ conventional powertrains in a number of different segments after Budget 2022. For example, the Yaris Hybrid, the Car of the Year 2021, will see no VRT increase for 2022.
Noticeably in the SUV sector, still predominantly diesel cars, and thus produce more emissions, many of the Toyota SUV hybrid range still have lower VRT. The Toyota C-HR hybrid will pay a lower VRT of 4.75% percentage points versus the average petrol and diesel equivalents, and the RAV4 hybrid, Ireland’s best-selling hybrid SUV, will on average pay a lower VRT of 2.5% percentage points in comparison to conventional models in its segment. Again in the SUV sector, the brand-new Yaris Cross hybrid will see no increase in VRT for two of the most popular grades.
Toyota has been an advocate for more sustainable driving since launching the hybrid more than twenty years ago and moved away from diesel passenger cars in 2018 in contribute to better air quality and lower emissions in Ireland.
Irish drivers have embraced hybrid motoring, as evidenced by the fact that the Toyota is the best-selling car brand in 2021, and Toyota this year has sold a 92% hybrid mix. Toyota offers the widest range of self-charging hybrid vehicles in Ireland, which are in EV mode over 50% of the time on average, and up to 80% of the time in urban settings. As a result, hybrid is key in the fight against carbon and the effort to eradicate as much carbon as possible, as soon as possible.
We see today’s VRT announcement as further vindication for the important role that our low CO2 emitting hybrid vehicles play in immediately migrating towards a more sustainable future.
Data on CO2 taken from JATO.