Dubai Taxi Corporation (DTC), part of Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has enhanced its current fleet with 1,100 new Toyota vehicles purchased from Al-Futtaim Motors, exclusive distributors of Toyota in the UAE.

The new deal consists of 20 Hybrid Camry, 930 Camry and 150 Innova models.

The purchase agreement was signed by Ahmed Hashim Bahrozyan CEO of Licensing Agency in RTA and chairman of the Committee overseeing the Dubai Taxi Corporation and Simon Frith, managing director Al-Futtaim Motors.

Dr Yousef Al Ali, CEO of Dubai Taxi Company said: “We released a tender via "Tejari.com" to buy 1,100 sedans from Al-Futtaim Motors, one of the main suppliers of DTC’s fleet which consists of 3,504 vehicles.”

“In the framework of this cooperation which dates for more than 16 years, we believe this agreement will further strengthen and consolidate our strategic partnership, whilst increasing the Toyota share of the DTC fleet to 86 per cent. Toyota's strength lies in its legendary performance, quality, durability and reliability of its vehicles, all of which are essential requirements for taxi operations.”

In 2008, DTC embarked on a pilot project with Al-Futtaim Motors, where 10 Hybrid Camrys were added to its fleet to test the efficiency of this new technology in the road and weather conditions of the UAE.

The trial run was very successful and showed that the test vehicles which covered more than 550,000km didn’t experience failures or major maintenance issues and resulted in 33 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency and 33 per cent lower CO2 emissions.

Al Ali added, “Our confidence in Toyota vehicles has grown over the past years, as reliable cars that operate for years and hundreds of thousands of kilometers. It was not difficult to decide to purchase 930 new Camrys, especially after the improvements that have been introduced to the 2012 model. But we are mostly delighted with the addition of 20 new Hybrid Camrys.”

Simon Frith, managing director of Al-Futtaim Motors said, "Al-Futtaim Motors is proud to be a long term partner with a leading institution such as DTC. Together we formed a national phenomenon that has linked the Toyota brand with Taxi transportation in the minds of the UAE residents.”

"This new agreement is yet more evidence of the amazing reputation that Toyota vehicles have gained for generations, thanks to their low cost of ownership and exceptional residual value.

“Our Hybrid technology, which is leading the sustainable mobility world-wide has gained the trust of DTC over the last few years and we are extremely pleased with the renewal of our cooperation where 20 new Camry Hybrid will be put to the test by DTC’s restless drivers. This will help us contribute to a cleaner environment and further reinforce our position as a responsible automotive partner,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service