Japanese car giant Toyota launched on Monday at the Frankfurt auto show the Mirai, a sedan that runs on hydrogen. The carbon-free vehicle, however, would only be available in Britain, Germany, Denmark and Belgium in Europe.
Associated Press reports that new Toyota CEO Johan van Zyl expects only 50 to 100 units of Mirai would be sold in 2015 by Toyota Europe. So far, there has been orders for 47 units. Toyota is searching for local partners that would put up hydrogen pumping stations in the four European countries.
Among the buyers of the Mirai are governments and companies that seek to cut their C02 emissions. By 2025, van Zyl expects higher sales of hydrogen-fueled vehicles as he projects cost of such cars to become more affordable to consumers.
So far, Toyota is enjoying a boost in sale of hybrid vehicles with 20 percent of the 880,000 cars sold in Europe in 2014 hybrid. However, he projects a slight slowdown of sales by 1 to 2 percent in 2015 due to Russia's economic slowdown.
But he expects hybrid sales to increase, following the roll out of the new RAV4 SUV in Frankfurt. The new RAV would have a hybrid powertrain, now available in four models. The three are the Yaris, Auris and restyled Prius.
In the U.S., motorists could order the 2016 Mirai and expect delivery in October, reports Green Car. While testers of Green Car were not impressed that it took Mirai 9.4 seconds to travel from 0 to 60 miles per hour, they gave thumbs up for the pleasant ride as the model endured clotted freeways and its quiet isolation-chamber interior as well as its suspension tuning, steering feel and ride quality.