Tokyo: The world's largest car maker,
Toyota, on Tuesday said it is considering introducing hybrid
vehicles in India, besides working on other alternative fuel
models for the global market.
"We are looking at introducing hybrid vehicles in India
and currently we are studying the market," Totota Motor
Corporation (TMC) Assistant Manager (Global Strategic Planning
Group) Katsuhiko Koganei told a group of visiting Indian
journalists here.
The new vehicle to be launched in India would be a
passenger car, he added.
Koganie, however, declined to give any time frame or the
likely-hybrid model which would be introduced in India.
Sources close to the development said the company could
launch its successful hybrid car 'Prius' in India, depending
upon its ongoing feasibility study.
On the initiative taken by the company on alternative
fuel technology, TMC Project General Manager (Research and D
Management Division) Yutaka Matsumoto said, "We are working on
bio-fuel, natural gas and hydrogen-based vehicles. Toyota
develops and offer products based on the 'right vehicle for
the right place at the right time concept'".
The company would start leasing about 500 units of Prius
with lithium-ion battery in Japan, US and European union
countries.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 16:07