Toyota launches new Corolla Altis in India, eyes bigger market share

"But we are studying the market," he said, adding tha Prius could be imported as completely built units (CBUs).

Presently, the only hybrid car selling in India is Honda's Civic Hybrid, which costs double the price of the normal petrol version.

Toyota has lagged behind other car makers in spite of having begun its operations in India 10 years back. "The last 10 years we've learnt our lessons. Due to increased focus on quality products and a slight slowdown in demand in domestic market, w have gone slow in sales. Now, we are ready to jump-start our business in the country. We'll increase our product line up," Nakagawa said.

"Ten years from now, India will become the largest automobile market in the world with an annual sale volume of more than 4 million vehicles. Therefore, India is a very important market for us," he said.

According to Kirloskar, the company is looking to capture 10 percent market share by 2015. "This year's target is to sell 63,000 vehicles, and by fiscal 2015 we are aiming for a market share of about 10 percent," Kirloskar said, adding, "The Altis marks our big step toward the achievement of this goal."

In the future, a planned launch of "several new cars on the small-car platform" would further help the company to gain volumes and boost its market share, he said.