Toyota Kirloskar Motor, the Indian arm of the Japanese carmaker on Friday launched the latest generation of their Camry sedan as their latest offering in India. The car will feature Toyota’s ‘Hybrid Synergy Drive’ with a total power out of 178 horsepower. “We are calling this a self-charging hybrid vehicle”,TKM’s newly appointed Managing Director Masakazu Yoshimura said. “In a hybrid system, the vehicle should be able to run on either the battery or engine alone, that is the definition of a hybrid car”, he added hinting at ‘Mild Hybrids’ sold by other Indian carmakers. The new Camry which has several new features and additional safety with nine airbags has an introductory price of Rs 36.95 lakhs.

Yoshimura who arrived in India recently highlighted that 2018 was a good year for TKM with sales of their Innova and Fortuner reaching new heights. He also said that TKM will looking at launching many new products going forward. “New rules permit manufacturers such as ourselves to sell 2,500 units of a vehicle without requiring homologation in India and Japanese or European certification will be accepted. This will give us the opportunity to bring in some models to test market in India”, he said. No further details of which models were given by Yoshimura who also admitted that TKM will need to work on their entry-level models.

Yoshimura added that Toyota is betting big on hybrids and particularly such ‘self-charging’ hybrids as they require no infrastructure. “No need to build charging stations and develop industrial infrastructure, but such hybrids can give major benefits of increased economy and much lower emissions”, he said, adding that the long-term goal of electrification remained on track.