Comments on: Toyota Will Introduce Hybrid Small Car in India

By: prakash.s

prakash.s — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 04:41:24 +0000

what type of engine model used

By: d c sutar

d c sutar — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:04:23 +0000

i have one resarch maruti 800car new engine fiting @ one leter petrol @ 130kmpl its realite plese totota rnd head contet mo no 09923355599

By: David Hussey

David Hussey — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:17:02 +0000

Wow.. that's great news for Indian Hybrid car lovers. Hybrid car is the futuristic cars in the road. That's really good news that small hybrid car entering in Indian automotive market. Indian automotive market is the biggest upcoming automotive market in the world.

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By: usbseawolf2000

usbseawolf2000 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:20:24 +0000

I think the price of the Prius doubled in India due to the 100% import tax. If Etios hybrid is build there, the price increase would not be much.

By: sri

sri — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:44:26 +0000

I was in India Last May. The prius sells for around $60K there. With that kind of prices there is no sense in even discussing what the premium is. Most mid-range cars in India cost anywhere from 7000 to 20000. Many of these are capable of 30-40MPG. For anybody wanting to save on fuel there are plenty of diesel options, which is a double whammy, because diesel prices are controlled to be cheaper. So I don't see anyone considering prius as a value purchase in India.

Another factor that may work against Prius in India is how many of the Indian cars pack good amount of space in a small body. In US Pirus is one of the very few cars that do that. The suzuki swift Dzire I rode in India during my trip could pack 4 6-footers comfortably (Shoulder space may be a bit tight by US standards though), has 16 Cubic Feet of trunk space, has a regular sedan type body and still almost a foot shorter than my Gen II prius. I think the main reason small cars are unpopular in US is the manufacturers have been avoiding making them good.

By: zach

zach — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 02:13:02 +0000

That "hybrid premium" reference was specifically about the difference between some of the small, high-mileage ICEs that are available today in places like India and China, and the mostly low-production, imported, expensive hybrids that have been generally marketed toward the wealthy in those countries.

If memory serves me, the most popular car in India right now is the Suzuki (sold as Maruti) Alto. It sells for less than $5,000. The per-capita income in that country is less than $3,000.

Just how big is the "hybrid premium?" It differs for every vehicle and hopefully it will soon be a thing of the past. However, asking even upper-middle class consumers in India to pay $5,000 extra for a hybrid is just not realistic. In the United States it's a very different story, but the economic benefits of driving a hybrid still vary a lot from model to model.

As for "the adolescent fixation with being cool," I think you may underestimate just how much that plays into the equation for a lot of hybrid drivers as well—they and their friends just have a different standard for cool than people who drive Escalades. In the long run, I think decreasing the amount of oil that we use will come more from society accepting fuel efficient cars as the "new cool" than from altering deep-seeded sociological values. (Not that we have time to sit around and wait until that happens on its own, but I don't think that cool is going away anytime soon.)

By: Reason

Reason — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 13:08:28 +0000

WHAT? What do you mean, “If Toyota has managed to bring costs down to the point that the fuel savings associated with the vehicle actually surpass its “hybrid premium”? It is absolutely ridiculous to look at the 5 year cost of owning a car when assessing this. Look at the lifetime of the car! Compare a prius that gets 50mpg to a corolla that gets 33mpg over 150,000 miles. The prius uses 3,000 gallons and the corolla 4500 gallons, difference of 1500 gallons. 1500x$3/gallon is $4500. And this is underestimating it because most Toyotas last well over 150,000 miles. EVERY HYBRID MORE THAN COVERS THE COST OF THE EXTRA MONEY MADE TO PRODUCE IT, AND THE WINNER IS THE ENVIRONMENT! We all need to own our cars longer. It would be good for our pocketbooks and the economy and the environment. The fixation on driving bigger and newer is about being “cool” and the average american adult’s inability to leave behind an adolescent fixation on being “cool.” It is a huge cultural problem that needs to be fixed, and comes from low self esteem of the average american adult.