22 Apr 19
News

Toyota to mass produce world’s first hybrid flex car

This year (2019), Toyota will start mass producing the world’s first hybrid flex-fuel car in the Brazilian state of São Paulo.

To be manufactured at the company’s plant in the city of Indaiatuba, it will be a special version of the 2020 Corolla which can run on gasoline, ethanol and electric power. 

The new Corolla should go on sale in the country by October and exports will begin in 2020. Destinations for hybrid flex version exports are yet to be announced. 

As Toyota has confirmed 1bn reais (US$254mn) in investments at the Indaiatuba plant and 600mn reais at the Porto Feliz plant, the Corolla project falls under the São Paulo state government’s IncentiveAuto program.

Under IncentiveAuto, OEMs receive discounts on state VAT (ICMS) tax, starting at 2.25% for a minimum investment in the state of 1bn reais and gradually increasing to 25% for contributions over 10bn reais.

Authored by: Daniel Bland