Toyota Kirloskar aims to proceed with selling diesel models of large utility vehicles in India. But, the company doesn't see a huge opportunity for diesel products in the smaller mass-market segment.

“Diesel is not going anywhere. Diesel will be a mainstay," says Naveen Soni, Senior Vice-President, Sales and Service, Toyota Kirloskar Motors. The Japanese based automakers are functioning in India by collaborating with the Kirloskar Group.

Alongside this, Naveen has also pointed out that the company may not offer diesel variants of smaller vehicles. Thus, Toyota would focus on electric and hybrid vehicles, a pivotal zone of its parent company. Further, the company's decision to stop small diesel vehicles due to the unviable increase in cost after the switch to more stringent emission norms by following the heels of the market leader Maruthi Suzuki and Renault announcing their motive to stop such models.

Naveen further adds, “Making of products is defined by two factors — one is competitive pressure and the other is government regulations. The development of regulations shows that electric technology will play a greater role in the industry.”
The company's portfolio is very diesel-heavy with over 80 percent sales coming through the sales of large utility vehicles like Innova and Fortuner. However, India is expected to implement the second phase of the corporate average fuel efficiency (CAFE) norms and the Real-World Driving Emission test in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Toyota has launched its first compact sports utility vehicle Urban Cruiser, on Wednesday. The price of the vehicle would range between Rs 8.40 lakh-11.30 lakh price range. It will not be available in diesel options.

The SUV segment has been the main volume driver in the domestic market as urban customers’ preference has shifted to this segment over the past decade. Most carmakers are now eyeing a share.