Toyota Prius Coming To India

Expect Toyota to retaliate to everything Honda does and vice a versa. Both companies have been at it in the Indian market as well, with the Civic-Corolla and Accord-Camry battles before.

Now that Honda has introduced the Civic hybrid, Toyota is going to bring in the most successful hybrid car of all times, the Prius, to our shores. "We are preparing to bring Prius into the Indian market though we have not set any timeline yet," said Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd vice-chairman Vikram Kirloskar.

The Prius runs on a 1.3liter petrol engine as well as an electric motor powered by batteries. It is one of the most fuel efficient cars in the world and also one of the least polluting. Its cult status in US, its biggest market, can be gauged by the figures of 592,000 units since launch. Also the fact that Hollywood celebrities vouch for it, doesn’t do any harm to it’s reputation. Overall the Prius has clocked more than one million units world wide.

Toyota had recently introduced the plug-in variant of the Prius to increase its range. The plug-in variant can be plugged into any electric socket and the batteries can be charged when the car is not being used. This helps in improving fuel efficiency further since the fuel that would have been used in charging the batteries is saved.

Whenever it comes, expect it to be priced at a premium over similarly sized cars and to be imported as a CBU.