The world's largest car manufacturer Toyota Motor Corp. revealed on Sunday that the company would introduce two mass-market PHEVs based on its Corolla and Levin models in China in 2018.
Toyota's head of China operations Hiroji Onishi made the announcement at a media event on the occasion of the Beijing auto show. The announcement demonstrates Toyota's continuing local commitment having selected China as the first site outside Japan to manufacture the Prius, Car Scoops reported.
Speaking at the media event, Onishi said that the company's decision to introduce the plug-in hybrid editions of the Corolla and the Levin shows its profound resolve as well as commitment to the Chinese market. However, the Toyota executive did not specify if his company would manufacture the said cars at Sinogy Toyota Automotive Energy System and/ or Toyota Motor (Changshu) Auto Parts, the company's two local manufacturers of hybrid components.
It is worth mentioning here that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles or PHEVs join a gasoline or diesel engine with an electric motor and an outsized rechargeable battery unit. Compared to the conventional hybrid vehicles, PHEVs have a comprehensive range. Conventional hybrid cars do not have a battery.
While very little detail on these new vehicles is available currently, a Corolla hatchback (non-plug) hybrid in Australia can go more than a mile on electric power. In addition, non-plug Corolla and Levin models are already available in China. Toyota has sold around 40,000 of them so far, Auto Blog reported.
Toyota also announced that later they would introduce the company's turbocharged 1.2-litre direct-injection petrol engine across China later this year. Various models of this engine are already in use in Japan and since April 2015.
In addition, the Japanese company also plans to launch an assortment of Toyota Safety Sense electronic safety systems in China for the first time. Following the successful introduction of these electronic safety systems in the United States and Europe, now local models of Toyota's Safety Sense will be available in China. They have been particularly adapted for the Chinese roads.
Watch the video on Toyota Corolla 2017 below: