DUBAI // Taxi chiefs in Dubai are adding a further 20 hybrid cars to their fleet after testing 10 of the vehicles for five years.
The trial of the 10 Toyota Camry Hybrids - which run on both petrol and electric batteries - was "very successful", Dubai Taxi Corporation said yesterday.
The cars covered more than 550,000 kilometres with no engine failures or major maintenance issues and with a 33 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency and 33 per cent lower CO2 emissions.
Nevertheless, the 20 new hybrids form only a small part of the company's additions to its 3,504-vehicle fleet this year. They are also buying 930 standard Camrys and 150 Toyota Innovas.
"The reason we are only adding 20 more hybrids is because the initial sample of 10 vehicles was too small to judge their performance effectively," said chief executive Yousef Al Ali.
"Hybrid vehicles cost almost double the capital of regular vehicles and the public has not really shown much interest, so adding hybrids is a risky undertaking for us."
