Toyota Urges India to Promote Flex Fuel Vehicles

Toyota's head in India, Vikram Gulati, thinks that after making E20 fuel (which is 20% ethanol and 80% petrol) mandatory, the government should now focus on flex fuel vehicles.

These vehicles can run on both petrol and pure ethanol.

Gulati suggests that the government should lower taxes on these vehicles and make flex fuel cheaper than petrol.

He believes that once a certain fuel blend is established, like E20 in India, the next step should be to promote flex fuel vehicles rather than increasing the ethanol blend further.

Currently, no carmaker in India sells flex fuel vehicles because they are more expensive.

However, companies like Toyota have developed models that can run on flex fuel.

Gulati also mentioned that in Brazil, flex fuel vehicles are popular because ethanol is much cheaper than petrol.

The Indian government has dismissed concerns about E20 fuel causing a significant drop in fuel efficiency, stating that the drop is only marginal and that the blended fuel has several benefits.