After lots of rumors and speculations, Toyota’s top brass has finally confirms their plans to launch a compact BEV (battery electric vehicle) with Suzuki for the Indian market.
Toyota to Launch a compact Electric car in India
The EV is going to be shared by Toyota and Suzuki for India. However, it is expected to launch only after the WagonR-based EV, which may possibly come in the next year, 2020.
Toyota’s EV is expected to be based on the WagonR-based EV that Maruti is at present under testing procedures.
Toyota Motors as well as Maruti Suzuki are now working on a compact battery electric vehicle (BEV), which they are going to launch in India very soon. However, there is nothing much known about it as yet, but it might possibly launch in India by the year 2021.
Shigeki Tareshi, Executive Vice President, Toyota Motor Corp stated in his statement, “India is, of course, one of the countries we have in mind for the introduction. Toyota is large in Japan but has a limited presence in India. Maruti Suzuki is large in India… with Suzuki, we will explore the possibilities of BEVs (in India). We will start with a compact BEV at an early stage… since we are working (on it) with Suzuki, I cannot share the timeline.”
Toyota Electric car Price in India
Toyota as well as Suzuki had signed an MoU in the year 2017 and had also declared a capital alliance a few months back. They had also established that the two of the brands would be working together for the development of electric cars along with independent driving technologies among various other projects.
In addition, the first result of the Toyota-Suzuki partnership has been the Glanza hatchback, and it was launched with a mild-hybrid engine. It is being powered by a 1.2-litre petrol engine, which is paired with an combined starter generator.
The upcoming Toyota EV should offer a claimed range of at least 200km for relevancy in the coming days. Recently, the Tata Motors has launched a high-range version of the Tigor EV, which also claims a range of 213km per charge. The upcoming EVs like the Mahindra XUV300 and Tata Nexon are also anticipated to deliver more than 200km of range per charge.
Toyota a compact Electric car Specification Features
In the meantime, Maruti has been also testing 50 units of JDM (Japanese domestic market) WagonR EVs in several Indian conditions. As per to the rumours, the Maruti WagonR-based EV is likely to launch in the year 2020 with fast-charging capabilities as well. This WagonR’s Heartect platform is going to be likely also underpin the upcoming Toyota BEV when it comes to India. It might also be a rebadged or different version of the Maruti EV to some extent.
