MUMBAI: As much as 90 per cent of the demand for premium sedan
Camry
in India is for its
hybrid
model, carmaker
Toyota
said.
Over the years, the Japanese auto major has witnessed a steady rise in
sales
of the Camry Hybrid. While in 2013, its share in sales was only 15 per cent, within a year it soared to 73 per cent and in 2015 it jumped further to 86 per cent.
"As much as 90 per cent of our Camry sales come from the hybrid model now. During the January-April 2016 period, we have sold 419 Camry hybrids, while the gasoline models sales stood at a low 44 units in the same period. In the whole of last year, out of the 1,024 units sold, as much as 879 units were hybrids, constituting 86 per cent of the total sales," Toyota Kirloskar Motors Vice Chairman Shekhar Vishwanathan said.
Toyota is the only company that assembles and sells pure hybrid models in the country. It began local assembly of the Camry Hybrid way back in August 2013.
While it assembles the Camry Hybrid at its Bengaluru plant, it also sells another such model, the imported
Prius
Hybrid, in the country.
Globally, Toyota sold 9 million hybrids in 2015, most of which were Camrys followed by Prius, he said. He added that with the government incentive of Rs 70,000 cash discount on each unit, the company expects the demand for hybrids to only go up.
Currently, Camry Hybrid has a price tag of Rs 33 lakh in New Delhi, which is its largest market, while the Prius Hybrid comes at Rs 38 lakh.
Vishwanathan refused to answer whether the company will look at local assembly of the Prius Hybrid also.
When asked about the largest market for hybrids, Vishwanathan said though demand comes from the top 10 metros, smaller cities like Kochi too have good potential.
"Recently we were surprised to welcome a farmer from a small town in Karnataka at one of our showrooms who demanded a Camry Hybrid on full cash down payment. And he wanted the car immediately to welcome his son from the US," he said.
He said now a customer can drive away a Camry Hybrid in 7-12 days.