Bengaluru, Feb 26 (IANS): Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) on Wednesday launched luxury self-charging hybrid electric vehicle Vellfire in India.
"The automotive industry in India is undergoing a profound technology-driven transformation with innovation and creativity defining the overall customer experience. As industry leaders, it is imperative for us to challenge ourselves and provide customers with new breakthroughs," said TKM Vice Chairman Vikram Kirloskar at the launch of Vellfire.
Vellfire is powered by a 2.5 litre 4 cylinder gasoline hybrid engine, generating a 86 kW power and a maximum torque of 198 Nm.
The latest Toyota car in India is equipped with two electric motors and a hybrid battery for lower emissions.
Masakazu Yoshimura, TKM managing director said Vellfire's launch is a significant step in Toyota's long-term plan to achieve zero carbon dioxide challenge.
"Today marks an important day in our journey in India, as we add another milestone product to our lineup of vehicles. We will continue to work for mass electrification, thus moving towards the goal of sustainable mobility," said Yoshimura.
He said Vellfire is a luxury offering from Toyota which furthers the company's goal of greener future.
TKM Senior Vice President Naveen Soni said Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050 is a goal the company set up to move towards a society where people, cars and nature can coexist in harmony.
Without mentioning the number of cars, Soni said Toyota has already sold out the first three months of Vellfire shipments.
Some new feature in Vellfire include spacious lounge class seating, newly developed VIP tuned suspension, power sliding doors, twin monoroofs, seat memory setting, 16 colours ambient light and long seat sliding function among others.
Vellfire falls under the category of Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicle (SHEV), belonging to the family of electrified vehicles (xEVs) which also include Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs), Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs).
These technologies share common core technology of advanced batteries, motors and controllers.
An advantage of this technology is the facilitation of regenerative braking which enables storing energy generated from braking in batteries.
SHEVs also have an on board charging function wherein electric batteries get automatically charged during operation, negating the need for external charging facility. Eom/417 words