Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) on Friday launched its second hybrid, a seven-seat passenger car, in India as part of a broader strategy to double its sales of electric vehicles in emerging markets.
Innova HyCross, a hybrid version of the popular utility vehicle already sold by Toyota in India, builds on the success of the hybrid sport utility vehicle (SUV) urban cruiser HyRyder, which was launched in September.
At the launch of the car in Mumbai, Hideki Mizuma, chief engineer of Toyota Innova, said, "We are confident that this proposal will ensure the spread of environmentally friendly vehicles.
Eco-friendly investors will The world's largest automaker by revenue has criticized the slow transition of its lineup to all-electric, battery-electric vehicles (BEVs).
But the company says its infrastructure is not BEV-ready and Hybrids make more sense, he says, in markets that need to offer a wider range of options to reduce emissions. However, mild hybrids have smaller batteries and cost much less.
Toyota and its partner Suzuki Motor Corporation (7269.T) believe they are best suited for the technology, with plans to manufacture hybrid vehicles in India for domestic sales and exports to markets such as Africa. I'm here. The hybrid push comes amid aggressive EV pushes by domestic rivals Tata Motors (TAMO.NS) and Mahindra and Mahindra (MAHM.NS).
India wants automakers to add more models of electric vehicles, but adoption of such vehicles has so far been slow, with only Tata producing them locally.