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Toyota Kirloskar is planning to launch their hybrid sedan ‘Prius’ in Indian market as a solution to rising fuel prices as well as growing concerns over emissions.

We are preparing to bring Prius into the Indian market though we have not set any timeline yet. In the run-up, we have to develop skills to service it and make spare parts available across the country.

- Mr. Vikram Kirloskar (Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd vice-chairman) told.

Prius is the one of the great cars, but is an expensive upfront. The 2008 edition of Prius is the most fuel efficient car in United Kingdom. Prius utilizes all-electric compressor for a purpose of cooling.

We are aware that Honda is launching its hybrid variant in the Indian market soon despite high import tariff. We can also do it with due preparation. As I said earlier, we have to gear up to service such a premium car by training our personnel and stocking enough spare parts with the dealer network.

- Kirloskar said.

As the 1st commercially mass-generated gas-electric hybrid, 1 million Prius cars were sold by month April globally, including 592K units in US and 315K units in the Japan.

In country, Toyota already advertises Camry and Corolla in premium segment, besides the Innova in multi utility and the Prado in SUVs.

Though we entered the Indian market over a decade ago, we chose to be in niche and premium segments. As a marketing strategy, we first introduced Qualis, which was a run-away success in the multi-utility segment. We launched Innova by discontinuing Qualis and yet maintained market leadership in the segment. In the second-hand or used car market, Toyota brands commands highest price even today because of their value and durability.

- Kirloskar said.

The industry shall raise its production capacity by another 10K units yearly for its presented models in India. It presently has a capacity of making 60K units which shall go up to 70K units after completion of its expansion plans. The entire project shall be aided by the Toyota Motor Asia Pacific Company that shall help Toyota functions in India. This industry has been mainly formed to help production capacity and supply n/w through improvements in an efficiency and the speed of each production industry in different countries like India, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan and Indonesia.

According to company officials, the Toyota India shall aim to expand their existing production plant capacity as much as possible before setting up new plant. They may also set up the small car plant by the end of next year or year after. New small car may be specially designed for India and the Brazil markets