Toyota Kirloskar Motors of India is facing some critical moments with its Prius, as the global markets for this car is at jolt. But for India, the company prefers to deal with it as the CBU to avail subsidy on greener aspects. Counted on the current duty on CBUs (100%) the car may cost around Rs26.55 lakh- Rs27.86 lakhs. But the outcome of the budget in this regard is much sought by the company. Toyota Kirloskar Motors is keen on availing some sort of relief for the greener aspects of the car. The MD for India claims that the government can consider the relief as Prius is not a luxury car to invite such duty. TKM sought this sort of relief from the apex company but the latter directed it to negotiate with the Indian government.
The target for this year is 200 units of Prius which happens to be the world first mass-produced and the largest selling hybrid- 1.5million units as on date. Much before the launch the company has got orders for 54 units in India. Toyota received a shot in the arm through this Prius, in quick succession(after the recall of 8 million cars including Corolla and Camry) on technical flaws. Prius faced the problem of brake software. In spite of these critical aspects, the MD is hopeful of going ahead with the Indian launch of Prius. For the promotion of Prius, there will be road shows across the nation and display of the vehicle in auto shows.
Setting apart Prius, the company is chalking out its plan for the launchof Etios – to be available in sedan and hatchback version. The car will undergo production by this year end from the Bidadi plant and will roll down in the Q1 in 2011. Toyota Kirloskar Motors had a good stint in India last year – 55497 units- and the target for this year is 70000 units. The company hopes to sell off the same number of units of Etios in 2011 to compile its net sale to more than 1.4 lakhs.