Toyota Motor Corp, the Japanese carmaker is preparing to enter the mass market segment by early 2011 with the process of identifying vendors in India with its completely new small car platform. In the beginning the company is looking forward at a localization level of 70% in small car. 

"We are looking at sourcing as much as we can from India and are studying the possibility of setting up an engine facility at the second plant near Bangalore." Nakagawa was speaking on the sidelines of a function to launch the New Land Cruiser here. He said that the focus was to make a vehicle that competes with the Hyundai's and Maruti Suzuki's in the small car segment. The company was also exploring the possibility of setting up a research and developments (R&D) centre in India,” said Hiroshi Nakagawa, managing director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) after indicating that they will be importing the engine for the small car.  

Taking into consideration the Indian market, the small car platform is a brand new platform. For this platform the R&D has been done in Japan, while the manufacturing will be done in India. The platform is expected to launch a Hatchback and a Sedan.

Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director, marketing, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said that, “The second plant in Bangalore will be the mother plant for the small car and the global launch of the small car will be done from here in early 2011”.

He said that the focus was on the Indian market while exports would follow later. By the end of this year the new plant was expected to be ready for production near Bangalore and the plant will have an initial capacity of 70,000 units per annum. The second plant has an investment of around Rs 3,000 crore.

Singh said, “The second plant will focus only on the volume car segment (small car), while the current plant, with a capacity of 65,000 units per annum, will look at producing Corolla, Innova and Fortuner.” 

Toyota will be launching the SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle), Fortuner in September this year. He added, “The car will be assembled in India and will have localisation of 25% to start with”. Toyota expects the sell of 400 units of Fortuner per month. The SUV will be available on Indian roads at Rs 20 lakh.

Toyota launched its flagship model, New Land Cruiser, in Mumbai at a starting price of Rs 81.64 lakh (ex-showroom Thane) on Tuesday. Singh said, “This launch helps us build our brand in the country” adding that the car would be available in all major cities.

Last year in India, the company sold 51,000 units and targets to maintain the numbers with sale of more than 50,000 units this year. Nakagawa said, “India is very small for Toyota as far as volumes are concerned at present. However, the future looks promising and the contribution of India to Toyota's global sales is expected to become significant”. 

Best Selling Toyota Car Models:
Toyota Innova
Toyota Corolla
Toyota Corolla Altis
Toyota Camry
Toyota Alphard
Toyota Prado
Toyota Landcruiser
Toyota Lexus

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Posted by Naresh Koshti on 11 June, 2009 2:09:39 PM IST #