Toyota Motor Sales USA has announced that it will discontinue four-cylinder versions of the Sienna minivan at the end of North America’s 2012 model year.
TMS hasn’t made a big thing of the news, including it as an aside in other information about the 2013 model year Sienna. But it does show just how quickly US buyers react to the intermittent spikes and drops in the price of gasoline at the pumps. In the case of the 2.7-litre four-cylinder base engine in the 2012MY Sienna, its EPA fuel economy numbers were only marginally better than those for the 3.5-litre V6 versions, so it’s understandable that most buyers would go for the more powerful engine.
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Something else that TMS has quietly revealed, is that US buyers will have to wait until calendar 2013 or later for their version of the new Corolla that was launched in Japan last month. Instead, the current sedan has been given a new grille, while the Matrix hatchback is carried over unchanged for the 2013 model year. To be fair, North America’s current Corolla didn’t go on sale there until January 2009 and had a facelift as recently as the 2011 model year, so the car is still fresh.
The Corolla/Matrix continue to perform strongly for TMS, with a combined 151,726 cars sold in the first half of 2012. The Sienna, meanwhile, is America’s number two minivan, its sales of 58,985 for the year to the end of June pipped by the Dodge Grand Caravan (68,964).
While the two-year old Toyota Sienna has lost one of its unique points with the deletion of the four-cylinder engine, it remains the only large minivan sold in the US with the option of all-wheel drive.
Author: Glenn Brooks
