Toyota Prius may cost Rs 20-25 lakh

Auto major Toyota Motors on Tuesday said it is studying the Indian market to launch its eco-friendly car 'Prius', but felt the current duty structure on completely built units CBUs would double the price of the vehicle.

"We are studying the Indian market to introduce our hybrid vehicle here. It would be brought here as a CBU, but at current levels of duty, it could cost anywhere between Rs 20-25 lakh," A Toyoshima, managing director, Toyota Kirloskar said on the sidelines of International Engineering Trade Fair in New Delhi.

Toyota sells Prius for about Rs 10 lakh in the US and the company claims the model accounts for nearly 80 per cent of the hybrid vehicle sales globally.

He said the Indian government should relax the duty structure for such hybrid vehicles to promote eco-friendly technology in the country.

The company has received a number of enquiries for Prius, especially from IT professionals, Toyoshima said. When asked about the company's plans of setting up a small car manufacturing facility in India, he said: "We are still studying the fine details for setting up a small car plant in India and it will take some time before we decide anything."

Japanese media had on Monday reported that Toyota Motor Corp was planning an investment of $330-420 million (about Rs 1,890 crore) for setting up a small car plant near its existing facility in Bangalore.

The report said the new plant, Toyota's second Indian manufacturing facility, would have an initial capacity of 1,00,000 cars a year.