The Toyota Avalon becomes the latest victim of the strong SUV trend that is sweeping virtually every market around the globe and that has led to one of the greatest metamorphoses that the automotive industry has undergone in its more than 100-year history.
Traditional passenger cars are no longer sold as before. Customers demand SUV cut models in practically all market segments and this is evident in the manufacturers’ offer, which develop many more models of elevated aesthetics to the detriment of traditional typologies, whose sales have fallen to levels unthinkable until a few years ago.
If at the beginning of the last decade they had told us that in less than 10 years practically all sedans would disappear from the North American market, historically the largest consumer of vehicles of this type in the world, we would probably have died of laughter, because until just a few years ago its most important segments were pick-ups and mid-size saloons. But times change, and American dealerships have been emptied of sedans and hatchbacks in favor of new pick-ups, SUVs and crossovers.
Brands like Ford no longer have any traditional tourism in the dealerships of their home market, while Chrysler and Chevrolet only have a few models and that in addition are about to be retired with no successor in sight. Only the reliable and reputable Japanese brands manage to save the type with models like the Toyota Camry or the Honda Accord, but even these have been forced to eliminate several models of traditional cut.
Toyota avalon
The Toyota Avalon is the new victim of this strong trend that is sweeping all markets. As confirmed by the Japanese company, its larger sedan is to be phased out after 2022, despite the fact that it is a newcomer to the market, as it debuted at the end of 2018 as a 2019 model.
The current Toyota Avalon corresponds to the fifth generation of the full-size sedan and shares the TNGA platform with the Camry, although it is slightly longer than this, as it is a variant of greater size and with a more premium positioning. A somewhat diffuse market step if we take into account the success of models such as the Toyota Camry or the Lexus ES, which is why the Avalon is currently in a no-man’s-land among the latter. The last model year will be 2022 and will have a more concise range, after which it will simply disappear from the US dealers to continue its production and marketing in China.