The much awaited and highly speculated Toyota Fuel Cell Vehicle has been finally launched. Toyota has christened the vehicle as the Mirai, the Japanese word for future and the vehicle marks a very important chapter for the Japanese car major. The Toyota Mirai as was promised is the world’s first mass-market hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, and it went on sale in Toyota’s home market Japan on 15th of December, 2014.
2016 Toyota Mirai
The Mirai has been doing the rounds in several global auto shows in its concept avatar which was known as the Toyota FCV concept. The vehicle gained high stardom in its concept form itself and enjoyed the shower of praises that came from the global auto enthusiasts. This vehicle is one of those rare cars from Toyota that gained equal praises for its great technology, capabilities and its design as well.
Such a great vehicle, the Mirai has finally launched in the market, but the sad part is that the car could not be noticed in most of the Toyota dealerships in Japan. The reason behind this is that, the Japanese auto giant will produce just around 700 units of the Mirai in the first year. Moreover, the car’s first customers will not be individuals, but several government organizations as was revealed last month by Toyota’s Executive Vice President Masamoto Maekawa.
The Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also volunteered as the car’s key promotional role as he named the Mirai at a news conference on 15th of December and called it the “ultimate eco car.” Shinzo Abe also said that the deregulation by his government will make sure that more hydrogen stations are built in Japan and the customers show interest in it to ensure the car’s success in the market.
The Toyota Mirai is a truly futuristic car fully justifying its name. The car uses hydrogen as its fuel and is propelled by electricity that is created by the chemical reaction between hydrogen and the naturally found oxygen. The process of curse releases only water vapor and heat as the only emissions, making it a cent percent eco friendly and pollution free car.
Toyota Motor has priced the Mirai in Japan at Y7.2 million (equivalent to $61,000). With subsidies in place, the Mirai will be offered with a selling price of Y5.2 million. The new Toyota Mirai is slated to launch in the U.S market in 2015.
Toyota has set itself very modest sales target of only 400 units of Mirai in Japan by the end of 2015, and 3,000 units in the U.S by end of 2017 and 50 to 100 units per year in Europe.
However, these sales targets for the Mirai are set only for the first few years, as after the year 2020 Toyota plans to sell bulk amounts of the car per year.
The initial exclusivity of the Toyota Mirai will result in lengthy waiting periods for the car, and some customers could have to wait for over a year in Japan. Toyota has already received domestic orders of over 400 Mirai units, exceeding its first year sales target.
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I am into the auto blogs field for quite a long time. Living my passion of reviewing cars.
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