'The founding principle of Toyota is to set the price first'

Toyota Kirloskar Motor anticipates robust sales growth in 2023 on the back of recent hybrid launches like the Hyryder SUV and the Innova Hycross, write Hormazd Sorabjee and Ketan Thakkar.

- Hormazd Sorabjee and Ketan Thakkar

TOYOTA HAS BROUGHT its self-charging, strong hybrid technology to the mass segment in India with the introduction of the Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder and the Innova Hycross. Toyota hopes these mass market models will fuel the adoption of strong hybrids in the market. However, unlike EVs, there are no tax breaks for hybrids yet which makes pricing them aggressively a challenge. We talk to Masakazu Yoshimura, Managing Director of Toyota Kirloskar Motor on the response to the new generation of hybrids and how he plans to make them cost competitive.

To democratise hybrids they need to be priced competitively, how are you balancing the price versus demand for hybrid tech which is costly and has no tax advantage?

Firstly, hybridisation is one route to electrification that we have been following. Toyota's first hybrid (the Prius) was launched in 1997 and this hybrid powertrain is common for EVs as well. Hybrids being a mix of battery and engine, have more parts and each part adds to the cost. So, hybrids are costly but we are always looking at what the market price is and also the introductory price of this technology which is making a start in the Indian market.