Pronouncing its most aggressive offer till date on hydrogen powered vehicle technology, Japanese carmaker Toyota has finally announced the date for the launch of its new fuel cell car.
The car maker on Tuesday said that its ambitious car ‘Mirai’ would be launched on December 15 in Japan followed by the released in the US and European nations in next summer and September, respectively.
With the launch of Mirai, which means “future” in Japanese, Toyota has tried to follow the footsteps of rival Honda.
The reports said that the Mirai will come with the price tag of USD 57,500 in the United States and €66,000 in Europe. The purchase prices are, however, expected to drop below USD 45,000, thanks to the government subsidies and tax credits.
Toyota has set the sales targets for the Mirai as modest. The insiders said that the company is hoping to sell 700 units across the world in 2015. Moreover, it plans to sell 3,000 units of the fuel car by 2017-end in the US market. While for the European markets, Toyota has set the goal of roughly 100 units in annual sales, starting in 2016.
The automakers across the globe are facing stringent regulations for cutting down the carbon dioxide emissions, thanks to the degrading climatic conditions and rising global warming. In such a condition, the concept of eco-friendly technology is finding greater relevancy. But the global automakers remain divided over which eco-friendly technology is best suited for the consumers as well as the environment.
Car makers like Nissan and Tesla are backing battery-powered electric vehicles, but hybrid cars pioneer Toyota banks on fuel cell technology.
Fuel cell vehicles, popularly called as FCVs, run on electricity generated from cells having combination of hydrogen and oxygen. They emit water vapour only.
According to Toyota, Mirai can cover a distance of up to 500km on a full tank. It could be fully recharged in about three minutes.
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