Compact car for India our own: Toyota

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Bangalore, November 4: : Japanese car maker Toyota Motor Corporation made it clear that the compact car that it plans to roll out in India in 2010 would be its own and would not have any association with Daihatsu Motor Co.

"No. This is very much Toyota..", Hiroshi Nakagawa, Managing Director of Toyota Kirloskar Motor, the Indian arm of the company, said, denying reports that the small car was proposed to be launched in association with Daihatsu, Japan's largest minicar marker in which Toyota holds 51 per cent stake.

Nakagawa said the compact car project is on track, and the TKM plans to produce 100,000 such vehicles in the first phase and it's proposed be doubled thereafter.

TKM had announced investment of nearly Rs 1400 crore for its second unit at Bidadi near here for which foundation stone was laid in July this year.

Asked if the proposed car would carry a price tag of around USD 5000, Nakagawa said: "That's a tough question for me" but he added, in response to another question, that "(Tata's) nano is a different type of car compared to our line-up".

He and TKM's Deputy Managing Director (Marketing) Sandeep Singh said there would be no layoffs at its Bidadi plant. Even though it faced "some difficulty" now, it has to maintain its business, capacity and employees as the company expects things to improve going forward.

TKM's sales in the first half of the calendar year was good, and the slow-down in the rest of the year would be offset by strong sales of New Corolla, company officials said.

Nakagawa said the company would achieve its sales target for 2008.

Singh said the company has already pilot-tested CNG-variant of Innova and such models would be rolled out in "big numbers" from early next year.