Locally, the Toyota GR Yaris retails for P2,940,000. It’s not exactly what anyone would call easily within reach. We can already see people saying that they’d rather spend their P3 million on something bigger, but that’s not the point of the GR Yaris.
If we’re talking about performance to price ration, one can’t deny that it’s a lot of car for the money. Heck, we’re even lucky that this pocket rocket even exists. But for those still complaining about its price, be thankful you don’t live in France.
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Over there, GR Yaris prices didn’t just go up, it skyrocketed. Initially, it started at €46,300 and €48,800 for the new automatic version. That’s roughly P2,800,000 to P2,950,000, which is about on par with Philippine prices. But now, you need to pay, wait for it, €92,290 for the manual and €108,800 for the automatic.
Based on current conversion rates, that means the GR Yaris in France is roughly P5,580,000 for the six-speed manual. Opt for the automatic and you’ll have to fork out about P6,580,000. Put that in local context, it’s more expensive than a Land Cruiser or a GR Supra. So, what gives?
No, it’s not French Toyota dealerships putting on crazy markups. Instead, it’s the French government heavily taxing vehicles that emit higher carbon dioxide emissions. Cars that produce under 117 grams per kilometer of CO2 emissions (g/km) are exempt from the heavy taxes. Go over that by 1g/km and you’ll have to shell out €50 while those that make 119g/km to 139g/km is a €75 penalty.
That doesn’t sound too bad, but the moment a car tips 140g/km, it’s €983, €4,279 for those exceeding 160g/km, and a whopping €22,380 for 180g/km. As for the GR Yaris with a manual transmission, it makes 190g/km, slapping it with a €45,990 eco penalty. We’ll give you time to bring out your calculators to convert that to local currency.
The €45,990 bill isn’t even the highest yet. The maximum allowable eco tax is €60,000 for cars that put out 194g/km or more. Unfortunately for the automatic model that emits 210g/km, that’s an additional €60,000 slapped on top of the SRP.
We feel for those who want to buy a GR Yaris in France. It’s supposed to be a bit of a performance bargain, but it’s now far from that. Still, Toyota France reckons it can still sell a good number of these homologation specials over there, and it’s still a relative bargain compared to what Singaporeans had to pay for one.
How much, you ask? We’re looking at about P8,322,000. So, the local price of P2,940,000 doesn't sound too bad now, eh?
