Heavy taxation on hybrid cars in India had forced Toyota Kirloskar to temporarily halt the production of its popular Toyota Camry Hybrid sedan in October 2017. With its existing stocks being sold, the company has resumed the production of the Camry hybrid sedan and the company now also plans to launch hybrid versions in all categories.
A report on Hindu BusinessLine quotes Shekar Vishwanathan, Vice-Chairman, Toyota Kirloskar, saying “We had to stop the production of hybrid Camry for a while because our stock had built up as the tax rate had gone up.” Toyota Camry is being assembled at company’s plant in Bengaluru and now the assembling of 2018 batch has commenced.
However, the sales of hybrid cars in India have not picked up. Toyota Camry Hybrid sales have gone down to 25 units per month as against almost 100 units being sold in pre-GST era. Increase in GST and Cess has resulted in the sedan’s price going up by 13 per cent to almost 42 lakh (ex-showroom). The hybrid version of Toyota Camry because a popular model in this space and over 90% of Camry’s sold in India were the hybrid versions.
Also read: Toyota Yaris India launch confirmed: All details on Honda City, Hyundai Verna, Maruti Ciaz rival
Tax rate on hybrid cars in India:
The frequent fluctuation on taxes on cars especially hybrid cars has been disappointing for automakers like Toyota and Honda who have hybrid cars in their respective product portfolio. Toyota also says that the company plans to introduce hybrid models lower than the Camry sedan but it depends on the tax rate.
Shekar Vishwanathan further told Hindu BusinessLine that Toyota’s intent is to bring in more models at lower segments as much as possible.
“But first, we want the tax rate to be a little more sensible from the customer’s point of view.” He added. It will be interesting to see cars like Toyota Etios and Toyota Corolla Altis getting a hybrid push. Toyota Etios is a popular sedan and its spacious cabin has seen a lot of fleet operators using it as cabs. If Etios gets a hybrid powertrain at a reasonable price will allow the car to be more fuel efficient and benefit both the operators and users.
Globally, Toyota is one of the leading companies with hybrid technology and has been investing heavily in this technology. Toyota and Lexus currently have over 34 hybrid vehicles sold globally. Toyota Yaris sedan will also be launched in India around May 2018 and will be available only with a single petrol engine option and no diesel on offer. Toyota might also consider bringing in a hybrid version of Yaris sedan as well, but sometime later and not during the launch. Toyota Yaris fills the gap between Etios and Corolla Altis sedans.
Toyota Camry hybrid sedan has allowed the company to understand the behaviour of a hybrid car plying in a country like India. With the expensive price tag, fewer cars are sold that allows easy monitoring of cars. Which in turn generates data such as the behaviour of a battery in hot and humid conditions. Toyota’s experience with hybrids in India have been very good says Shekar Vishwanathan.
Toyota’s major reason for pushing hybrid vehicles is because of the delay in setting up of charging infrastructure.
“Once you push enough number of hybrids into the market with enough battery manufacturing taking place in India, then the volumes go up. When the volumes go up, the battery cost will come down,” he added.
Experts believe hybrid vehicles is a must to achieve the target of electrification in mobility especially in a country like India. While the debate around this continues, Automakers ask for one long-term policy on hybrids an EVs that will allow them to invest better and roll out vehicles quickly.
Source: BusinessLine
