05
December
2016
|
16:01
Europe/Amsterdam

2016 YUKÕ – Toyota first to exclusively offer full hybrids in car sharing pilot

  • Toyota’s car sharing pilot YUKÕ exclusively offers a range of full hybrid cars – a first in the European car sharing market
  • Toyota wants to extend the full hybrid driving pleasure enjoyed by more than 9.5 million Toyota and Lexus customers around the world to those customers that choose not to own a car
  • Two European pilot projects kicked off in Ireland (Dublin) and Italy (Forlì)
  • Hybrid car sharing meets both societal and customer needs by offering quiet stress-free and fuel efficient driving whilst improving air quality and urban congestion

YUKÕ is Toyota’s new full hybrid car sharing programme that is being piloted in two European cities: Dublin, Ireland and Forlì, Italy. YUKÕ – Japanese for ‘Let’s go’ – lets people enjoy hybrid without owning it with its exclusive full hybrid offer, ranging from the B-segment Toyota Yaris Hybrid to its iconic Prius and will eventually also include its latest crossover, the Toyota C-HR Hybrid.

Sustainable growth is key

The pilot cities have been chosen based on a set of criteria such as state of the local car sharing economy, demographics, infrastructure and congestion levels. Initially, 15 cars will be made available in selected parts in Dublin and 7 in Forlì. “We’re starting small to verify our business model, but we have the ambition to expand with more vehicles and cities in Europe in the coming years,” said Mark Adams, Vice President Consumer One & New Mobility. With YUKÕ Toyota is reconfirming its commitment to democratise the full hybrid driving experience - adding to the more than 9.5 million Toyota and Lexus hybrid customers around the world already today.

Car sharing customers typically don’t want the hassle of owning a car which comes with additional taxes, fuel and maintenance costs. Now, they can also benefit from Toyota hybrid’s pleasant, quiet and stress-free driving experience - particularly in busy areas. In addition and contrary to many uninitiated drivers’ impressions, hybrids don’t need to be plugged in and do not create range anxiety.

Start small, think big

Last June, the ‘YUKÕ Toyota Car Club’ was officially launched in Dublin. YUKÕ will initially roll out in the Irish city with 15 vehicles across three city centre locations, with the intention of expanding rapidly to cover a city wide footprint. In addition to free on-street public parking space the Toyota models available are the Yaris, Auris and the Prius.

Commenting on the launch, Steve Tormey, CEO Toyota Ireland said: “We are honoured that Toyota Europe has chosen Dublin for the launch of YUKÕ and are very excited about the promise YUKÕ holds for addressing some of the key mobility issues in large metropolitan areas such as Dublin. We want to democratize our technology by providing customers access to the latest high tech hybrid vehicles.”

YUKÕ not only helps to tackle Dublin’s urban congestion and mobility issues, it also improves Dublin’s air quality thanks to extremely low NOx emissions – around 10 times less than EURO6 regulation limits. Attending the launch of YUKÕ, the Irish Minster for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross, said: “We welcome the arrival of Toyota’s YUKÕ car club initiative to Dublin. Low emissions, urban congestion and mobility are high on our agenda and we believe that the car sharing model is a credible solution to improving these important problems. With the added bonus of using hybrid vehicles, YUKÕ Car Club is an excellent addition to the transport options in Dublin City”.

Up to 79.4% of the time at zero emissions

In Forlì, a city around 80km away from Bologna, YUKÕ aims at helping to continuously improve the quality of people’s lives in the city, by offering innovative and sustainable mobility solutions. As of 5 December there will be 7 Toyota Yaris Hybrid available to all subscribers who want to enjoy driving a full hybrid from time to time. In addition, these car sharing drivers benefit from free access to the traffic restricted areas and to paying parking areas.

"Raising awareness about the importance of sustainable mobility is one of the actionsthat our Administration has been pursuing. The ultimate goal is to make our city and our region ever more viable and accessible, by developing and promoting good daily practices that meet health, quality of life and environment needs,” declares the Mayor of Forlì, Davide Drei.

Andrea Carlucci, CEO of Toyota Motor Italia says: “Full Hybrid technologies are the right answer to the important objective of a zero emissions mobility in the city. We believe that this objective can really be reached. The results of a recent research* of CARe in Rome shows how our 4th generation Toyota Prius, in a home-to-work route, managed to travel 73% of the time with zero emissions. This figure was as high as 79.4% when considering urban driving only.”

http://newsroom.toyota.eu/toyota-prius-excels-in-zero-emissions-commuting-study/

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