Reports: Toyota to Drop iQ City Car in Europe

Toyota Motor Corp. is phasing out the European version of its iQ city car in 2014, according to European media reports.

British enthusiast magazine Autocar quotes Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez, who says Toyota told him it would end production of the $14,000 iQ for Europe next year. Bez says that decision is one reason Aston Martin announced earlier this month it will drop the slow-selling Aston Martin Cygnet, a $49,000 version of the iQ.

According to the Dutch publication De Telegraaf, the company handling its imports to the Netherlands has been told by the Japanese carmaker that the European iQ would go out of production next year. Toyota says only that production of the iQ will continue.

The European model is offered in three trim levels with a choice of a 1.0-liter 3-cylinder or 1.3-liter 4-cylinder gasoline engine and an array of manual and automatic transmissions.

Toyota unveiled the iQ in concept form at the 2007 Frankfurt auto show. The car went on sale in Japan in 2008 and in Europe a year later. A U.S. version, the Scion iQ, debuted in 2010. Analysts say the next-generation iQ is due in about 2015.