[chinmoysc]

Mod Note: Team-BHP's Official Camry Hybrid Review has been uploaded at this link. Please continue the discussion over on the review thread. Thanks!

It seems that Toyota is launching a hybrid Camry in India at the end of August. Here is a link.

http://www.autocarindia.com/News/346...is-august.aspx

[JayPrashanth]

Link to News Section

The Indian government's ambitious 20,000 crore rupee National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 (NEMMP) has whetted the appetite of a host of car makers in India. Apart from offering direct subsidies to car makers on the ex-showroom price of the car, the NEMMP will also subsidize research and development in the field of electric and hybrid vehicles. The plan aims to put over 1 million electric and hybrid vehicles on Indian roads by the end of 2020 and to do this, the plan even offers attractive benefits to vendors involved in producing parts for electric and hybrid vehicles.

Mahindra Reva, which has already made the first move by launching the E2O electric hatchback earlier this year and has lined up electric variants of the Gio, Maxximo and the Verito for the coming years. Japanese car giant Toyota, which already sells the Prius Hybrid in India, has charted out its own plans as well. Toyota will launch the Camry Hybrid luxury sedan in India, in the second half of 2013. Team-BHP, through vendor sources, learns that Toyota even has plans of localizing its hybrid car range to drive down costs and make its hybrid cars a more attractive proposition.



Team-BHP has learnt that Toyota has begun talks with vendors in India to localize specific parts of its hybrid cars such as the Prius and the Camry. The localization content, which could be minimum to begin with is expected to rise to significant levels once Toyota manages to get sufficient volumes for its hybrid car range. Vendors too stand to gain out of this arrangement given the attractive sops expected from the Indian government through the NEMMP 2020 project.



Coming to the Toyota Camry Hybrid, the car uses the series-parallel hybrid structure (Hybrid Synergy Drive in Toyota speak) wherein the 2.5 liter VVT-i petrol-4 cylinder engine is complemented by the electric motor. While the Atkinson cycle based petrol engine, codenamed 2AR-FXE, alone produces 154 Bhp of peak power, when combined with the NiMH battery powered electric motor, the peak power output rises to 200 Bhp. The torque is transmitted to the front wheels of the car through a e-CVT (electronic CVT) automatic gearbox that channels power from the petrol engine and the electric motor.



The Camry Hybrid is not just faster than the petrol engined variant but is also 30% more fuel efficient. In other words, Toyota is offering diesel engine like fuel economy with better performance to boot through the Camry Hybrid. The Camry Hybrid comes with brake energy regeneration, fully electric power steering and air conditioning, and a cooled battery pack. These measures make the car more fuel efficient while also boosting the performance of the electric motor/battery pack. The car will be assembled in India through CKD kits.

On the outside, the Camry Hybrid gets a revised front end, 17 inch alloy wheels and hybrid badges on its flanks. To differentiate the Camry Hybrid from the regular Camry, Toyota has altered the interior for a more luxurious look and feel. The changes include new panels, a new instrumentation console and seat fabric. The styling on the outside is also different While the pricing of the Camry Hybrid is unknown at this point in time, the car is expected to be priced significantly more (about 40%) than the regular, petrol engined Camry.

[girimajiananth]

Spotted this near Toyota factory in Bidadi (Bangalore ) It was a test mule . Made no noise at all and the badges were covered . However I happened to visit the plant and saw one . No pics inside the plant.

Sorry for the poor quality , used my cell phone camera .

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by girimajiananth

Spotted this near Toyota factory in Bidadi (Bangalore ) It was a test mule . Made no noise at all and the badges were covered . However I happened to visit the plant and saw one . No pics inside the plant.

Sorry for the poor quality , used my cell phone camera .

Attachment 1096105

Hi Ananth,

Thanks for the excellent scoop. The front grill and the fender taping is a clear indication of the hybrid drive under the hood.

[Pandher]

The only thing that can save it from becoming a market dud is the price, only if they can price it sensibly. I read somewhere else that it might be priced around 36 lacs. At that price point a german diesel is much more desirable. If they want to drive sales, then it should be priced around 25-28 and should be marketed as being very fuel efficient.

[performance plumbing]

So this means we're getting the Thailand car just as ACI said. Overdrive has put up pictures of the USA-spec car which is quite different.

[JayPrashanth]

The Camry Hybrid is meant to mark Toyota's presence in the hybrid segment in India, just as the Prius does. Toyota isn't interested in volumes and the sale of these cars in India is a part of a long term strategy that Toyota has in place for India. The presence of these cars in India will allow Toyota to work with vendors who also want to get involved with the NEMMP 2020. Toyota has already begun speaking to vendors about the possible localization of parts for the Prius and Camry.

Eventually, Toyota's idea is to position petrol hybrid cars as a viable alternative to diesel powered models, and this strategy is being fine tuned at Lexus. With the NEMMP 2020 promising benefits to manufacturers and vendors alike, it's just a matter of time before more car makers jump onto the hybrid brigade. Being on of the first mover in the segment, Toyota will be well poised to take advantage of the hybrid revolution, if it ever comes.

Cheers,

Jay

[baludharmarajan]

Why the Toyota hybrids don't have a diesel motor? Is it because of the emissions from the diesel engine or the car being a CBU doesn't have a diesel powered motor? Camry has less equipment list and safety package compared to other cars in that price range and the increased cost of hybrid pushing it to the luxury sedan territory will result in a market dud. India doesn't have a carpooling lane where hybrids can be driven with only driver inside or may not earn respect from other people because you are running a hybrid. The car may not be successful if it appeals only to the rich environmentalists.

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by baludharmarajan

Why the Toyota hybrids don't have a diesel motor? Is it because of the emissions from the diesel engine or the car being a CBU doesn't have a diesel powered motor? Camry has less equipment list and safety package compared to other cars in that price range and the increased cost of hybrid pushing it to the luxury sedan territory will result in a market dud. India doesn't have a carpooling lane where hybrids can be driven with only driver inside or may not earn respect from other people because you are running a hybrid. The car may not be successful if it appeals only to the rich environmentalists.

Not many hybrid diesel powertrains have even been manufactured yet. Also most of the hybrid cars you see around the world were developed with the US market in mind where diesel is a big no no. That is definitely changing, some European automotive companies are exploring diesel hybrids now and you should see them on the streets soon enough.
On the price note, if it was a diesel hybrid, this car would be even more expensive than a petrol hybrid.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by baludharmarajan

Why the Toyota hybrids don't have a diesel motor? Is it because of the emissions from the diesel engine or the car being a CBU doesn't have a diesel powered motor? Camry has less equipment list and safety package compared to other cars in that price range and the increased cost of hybrid pushing it to the luxury sedan territory will result in a market dud. India doesn't have a carpooling lane where hybrids can be driven with only driver inside or may not earn respect from other people because you are running a hybrid. The car may not be successful if it appeals only to the rich environmentalists.

Electric motor compliments a petrol engine better. Electric motors produced their peak torque from standstill while petrol engines have weak bottom end. At higher rpms- petrol takes over and can supply power back to the motors as well.

Diesel engines produce torque lower down and also are not much revv-friendly.

[volkman10]

Toyota to bring Camry Hybrid to India, assembled at the Bangalore facility.

The hybrid Camry would be the most expensive sedan under the Toyota badge and is expected to be priced at around Rs 36 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), while the Z6 fullyloaded Prius hybrid costs Rs 31.42 lakh

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/21791349.cms

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Toyota to bring Camry Hybrid to India, assembled at the Bangalore facility.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/21791349.cms

How do they plan to increase sales for an overpriced car? Bring a hybrid which is shockingly overpriced!

Good strategy Toyota. Only one question though- where is the diesel variant?

[volkman10]

Performance data:


https://twitter.com/ShapurK/status/3...808448/photo/1

[volkman10]

Toyota Camry Hybrid gets ARAI approved 19.16km/l - India’s first locally produced hybrid car.

Arriving at the car’s engineering, the Camry Hybrid gets a 44bhp electric motor paired to a 2.5-liter 158bhp petrol engine, driven via an electronically controlled CVT. Combined, the power output stands at about 205PS (203bhp). Toyota claims an ARAI certified fuel economy of 19.16km/l and CO2 emission of 122.8g/km.

Exterior wise, the hybrid Camry gets an ‘exclusive’ radiator grille with a blue-colored Toyota logo. The headlights, which look a bit different, are low-power consuming units which Toyota say offer a long life and good visibility.

On the features front, the Camry Hybrid gets a few more goodies than the regular petrol version. You get hill start assist, 3-zone automatic airconditioning (the driver, front passenger and the rear seats), power reclining rear seat, a rear seat armrest with controls for the rear seat recline, rear windshield sunshade and the rear AC. First in class features are the reclining rear seats and ventilated front seats.

The instrument cluster gets a “hybrid exclusive ornamentation” while the front windshield has an acoustic wind silencer that absorbs the high-frequency wind noise from entering the cabin.

http://indianautosblog.com/2013/08/t...ications-92003

[Stratos]

Originally Posted by baludharmarajan

Why the Toyota hybrids don't have a diesel motor?

As said above, one also needs to consider the premium that diesel cars come with compared to their petrol counterparts.

I did a project on a similar case recently where the research suggested that although there are a few examples of diesel-electric hybrids like the Peugeot 3008, Citroen DS5, etc, manufacturers have still not been able pull down the price of developing a diesel-electric hybrid vehicle, since in case of diesel-electric hybrid vehicles the price step up is twice compared to petrol-electric hybrids.

Petrol Hybrid = Petrol vehicle cost + hybrid driveline premium
Diesel Hybrid = Petrol vehicle cost + diesel engine premium + hybrid driveline premium.

Diesel-electric hybrids are widely used in commercial transportation though. Just to give you a difference in price (which may be totally unrelated here), a standard diesel powered Dennis Enviro400 bus costs approximately £190,000, whereas its diesel-electric hybrid variant costs £300,000+.