Toyota Won’t Go Electric In India

With the government setting its eyes on turning the Indian automotive market into an all-electric one by 2030, most car manufacturers have now turned their attention to adhering to the decision. However, Toyota Kirloskar Motors, the Indian subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation, has refused to go electric. Shekar Viswanathan, vice-chairman and director of Toyota Kirloskar Motors, revealed that it has no plans to get its electric vehicles in India anytime soon.

He said, “Toyota does have an electric vehicle but we will wait for the charging infrastructure to come up in India before we ask Toyota Motor Corporation to give us electric vehicle products." He also added that electric vehicle technology is very simple and getting it to the Indian market will not be difficult. He also said that, when required, Toyota India can launch these cars at a very short notice.

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This decision puts light on the ground reality that the government has to deal with before expecting manufacturers to get their electric cars in the country.

Toyota already has two hybrid cars in its Indian lineup, the Camry and the Prius, and various other electric/hybrid cars in its global portfolio. So, it won’t take the manufacturer much time to react as soon as the charging infrastructure is set up across the country.

The government (under the FAME-India scheme) has already started installing charging stations in the country. Recently, 25 charging stations were installed in Bengaluru in collaboration with Mahindra REVA Electric Vehicles Limited.  A few more proposals have also been sanctioned to install electric charging stations in Delhi-NCR region and Chandigarh as well.

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Source: ETAuto