Japanese carmaker Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd., (TKM) has taken steps to reduce CO2 emission of its cars made in India to zero by 2050, said a top official.
All the future models of TKM will be hybrid vehicles. Currently, TKM manufactures Camry Hybrid at its second plant located in Bidadi near Bengaluru, Karnataka. Roughly, TKM sells 95 cars per month.
“Hybrid is going to be the volume driver,”said T.S. Jaishankar, TKM Deputy Managing Director and Technical and Purchase. “It is the next technology, we like to promote it in India. With pressure on environment and Euro VI coming into play, it will be a good solution for reducing CO2 emission.”
Environment-friendly measures
The company has put in place environment friendly measures. “We don’t consume fresh water for process. We completely recycle water in paint shop. We have rain water harvesting pond and use fresh water only for human consumption.”Mr. Jaishankar said the company was the first to use water based paint, even though it was costlier. “But it is environment friendly. TKM also does not use any packaging material. All are returnable. Packages comes in racks, even for imported components and the racks are returned back.” On the safety aspect, he said that Toyota cars came with dual air bags across all models, with 100 per cent anti-lock braking system and was awarded four star in the Global NCAP crash test. TKM’s third quarter sales was dented by demonetisation, Mr. Jaishankar said. “People have just postponed their buying decision. We expect the sales to pick up from March. The sales in the second half will not compensate for the downfall. We will end the current year either flat or slightly up without substantial increase over the last year sales volume.”
