1NEWS, NASIONAL.
Toyota Motor Corporation and Suzuki Motor Corporation announced that they will start production of hybrid vehicles for the Indian market which will be developed by Suzuki.
Quoted by Financial Express from Reuters, a Toyota factory in southern India in August will start building a sports hybrid vehicle (SUV) developed by Suzuki.
“Two powertrains will be available, one with a mild hybrid configuration from Suzuki and the other as a hybrid from Toyota. In a mild hybrid, the battery only assists the piston engine, without the electric drive mode available in the hybrid made by Toyota,” the article states.
The partnership between the two companies has been established since 2017. With the latest agreed plan, the products resulting from this collaboration are also planned to be exported to several countries including Africa.
As is known, Toyota has recently received criticism for being considered slow in the transition to electric vehicles.
But the company argues that hybrid models make more sense for now when compared to fully electric models.
