Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor Corp is in the process of identifying vendors in India as it prepares to enter the mass market segment by early 2011 with its completely new small car platform. The company is looking at a localisation level of 70% at the start of production level in small car.
Indicating that it will be importing the engine for the small car, Hiroshi Nakagawa, managing director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), said: “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 Hyundais and Maruti Suzukis in the small car segment. The company was also exploring the possibility of setting up a research and developments (R&D) centre in India.
The small car platform is a brand new platform, keeping in focus the Indian market. The R&D for the said platform has been done in Japan, while the manufacturing will be done in India. The platform is expected to roll out a Hatchback and a Sedan. ?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,? said Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director, marketing, Toyota Kirloskar Motor. He said that the focus was on the Indian market while exports would follow later. The new plant near Bangalore was expected to be ready for production by end of this year and would have an initial capacity of 70,000 units per annum. An investment of around Rs 3,000 crore was being made in the second plant. “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,” said Singh.
The company will be launching sports utility vehicle (SUV), Fortuner, in September this year. “The car will be assembled in India and will have localisation of 25% to start with,” he added. The company is looking at selling 400 units of the Fortuner per month. The SUV will be priced at around Rs 20 lakh.
On Tuesday, the company launched its flagship model, New Land Cruiser, in Mumbai at a starting price of Rs 81.64 lakh (ex-showroom Thane). “This launch helps us build our brand in the country,” said Singh, adding that the car would be available in all major cities.
Toyota sold 51,000 units in India last year and targets to maintain the numbers with sale of more than 50,000 units this year. “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,” Nakagawa said.