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Toyota Studying Etios, Camry Hybrid Cars For India
Toyota Kirloskar Motors, Toyota Motor Corporation's India subsidy, is studying the feasibility of launching hybrid vehicles for the Indian buyers, ET has learned. The plan is more likely to take off once the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 comes into effect.
As everyone knows, the major hurdle in making hybrid vehicles popular in India has been the high price tag. Honda City Hybrid is a good example. Owing to the high cost the hybrid variant was stopped soon after its launch. Another example is Toyota Prius. An extremely popular hybrid car in overseas markets, the Prius is imported to India, which makes it extremely expensive at INR 28 lakhs due to import duties. Since its introduction in 2010 only 170 units have sold in India.
Kouji Toyoshima, chief engineer, Toyota Motor Corporation has informed ET that to bring down the cost of hybrid vehicles in price conscious emerging markets the company needs to introduce a low cost hybrid vehicle and on this front the Etios hybrid will be developed.
Going ahead, even the Camry sedan could be offered in hybrid variant. However, once NEMMP comes into effect the government will provide subsidy upto INR 1.5 lakhs among several other benefits. The first step Toyota is expected to take is begin local assembly of the Prius.
Once the purchase price goes down people will automatically adopt hybrid vehicles due to their low emission figures and more importantly, high fuel economy, which could be double that of a conventional variant.
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