Plans are at an advanced stage for Toyota Motor Corp (ADR) (NYSE:TM) to launch an updated version of the Mirai in time for the 2020 Olympics to be held in Tokyo. This was announced by its head of advanced research and development, Kiyotaka Ise. This confirms that Toyota remains firmly committed to fuel-cell vehicles even though it is also at the same time developing electric cars.
Mirai relaunch
With the planned launch, the top-selling automaker in the world is hoping the hydrogen-powered Mirai will be as successful as the Prius hybrid. When the Prius hybrid was first released in 1997 it sold less than 150,000 units. But the second-generation proved popular as approximately 1.2 million units were sold.
But unlike the Prius which received huge publicity when Hollywood celebrities took a liking to it, Mirai’s case is different as few marketing efforts have been devoted to it. This is partially because of a low manufacturing capacity. At present, the Mirai cars are assembled by hand at Toyota’s Motomachi factory by a team of 13. Toyota’s head of advanced research and development, however, hopes the Prius ‘miracle’ will be replicated.
“Prius sales rapidly increased from the second generation. We are not sure if will grow that rapidly, but we hope to increase the number of units with Prius as one target,” said Ise.
Hybrid target
By 2020, Toyota’s ambition is to annually sell over 30,000 cars that are powered by hydrogen. Ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Toyota also intends to launch over 100 fuel-cell mass transportation buses in the host city. To achieve this, the company will be required to reduce production expenses. It will also be required to produce key components such as fuel cell stacks and hydrogen tanks at a quicker pace.
Owing to a set of emission rules in places such as California and China, Toyota’s ambitions in the fuel-cell vehicles will now have to go hand in hand with developing electric vehicles which the company has been skeptical about in the past. This month, Toyota disclosed intentions to join the likes of Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) in developing long-range electric cars.
