Toyota Doubles Footprint In India

by Bertel Schmitt

July 27th, 2011 4:41 AM

In a race to get a more solid foothold in India, Toyota is nearly doubling its production capacity on the subcontinent. Much to the chagrin of some Indians, the country is called the “next China.” Currently, the market is dominated by Suzuki, which owns nearly half. Hyundai and Mahindra hold sizable shares – all of which bugs the world’s largest carmakers to no end.

Toyota has answered the call with its developed-in-India-for-emerging-markets Etios and is now seeking to enlarge its footprint. At the cost 17.2 billion yen ($ 220 million) Toyota will expand its capacity in India to 310,000 units in 2013, up from 160,000 units at the moment.

No changes in the product portfolio have been announced. Toyota produces the Fortuner, Corolla, Etios and Etios Liva locally and imports (while paying obscene customs duties) the Camry, Prado, Prius and Land Cruiser 200.

#BertelSchmitt #India #Japan #Toyota

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7 comments

Athos Nobile on Jul 27, 2011

I guess they're going to use the low cost factory model featured here some months ago.

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Camchennai on Jul 27, 2011

@Bertel Schmitt - Nice set of images you have put up for illustration....where did you get those?? Yeah Toyota is very serious about Indian market and they are expanding their foot print in terms of both manufacturing and dealership. I own 2 Toyota cars and i love their brand

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- JD-Tippit on Jul 28, 2011
  
  " I own 2 Toyota cars. I love their brand " How typical of the Indian consumer. You could sell a dead cat with a Toyota badge and they would lap it up like there's no tomorrow. That's really why major brands like Toyota and GM are working hard to crack the BRIC market, fully utilizing their marketing/PR arm and brandishing bomb vehicles on unsuspecting consumers - because they know they can. Outside of India, recalls, reliability issues and bad service is scaring the traditional Toyota demographic away. Here we go...it's USA of A all over again!
  
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- Camchennai on Jul 28, 2011
  
  @JD-Tippit Well, there is nothing wrong in owning a car which doesn't give any problem. Typically American brand cars are known for un-reliability, bad service, high maintenance and low FE. Japanese cars are knows for their reliability and low maintenance, this is world known fact. GM is not having a good run in India and so was the case of other American brand. Ford recently came in to limelight after launching a low cost model(read - Value for money). There is nothing bad in announcing a recall, after all its a good gesture by the manufacturer to correct his fault. A dead cat or lemon will not be sold by Toyota!! They know their cars and they have the very best quality management in the entire manufacturing industry.
  
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- JD-Tippit on Jul 28, 2011
  
  Look, you can't live under that illusion anymore and be totally loyal to a brand - that's why India has a somewhat immature consumer culture. Judge the product, not the brand. Toyota has sold some really bomb vehicles in India too, while reliable and good quality, they were definitely not the latest nor greatest. Think Qualis - a car which I owned in the 1980s, or the Etios a real bare bones, stripped out box on wheels, that really would not sell anywhere else but in India. I've heard that the quality of steel, materials etc is sometimes 35% of the same car in Europe/Australia - plausible when you look at the price difference. For example, in Australia the VW Polo sells with 12 year anti-corrosion warranty, in India it's only 6 years. There are subtle differences in the options too. I would prefer to buy the imported vehicles if I lived there.
  
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Eldard on Jul 27, 2011

Once BRIC citizens realize how crappy GM, VW and Suzuki cars really are, you can guess who's gonna have a windfall. ;)

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Robert.Walter on Jul 28, 2011

Ford appears to be on the same path, but with a larger investment (1G USD) to add 2 new plants with 250k cars/yr and 270k engines per year capacity. "India, where passenger car sales grew 29 percent in the last fiscal year, to 2.5 million... Ford expects a “dramatic spike up in India” by the middle of the decade as incomes increase". No doubt, this kind of near-term growth, and growth potential tends to draw investment. Esp when one's established markets are mature, stagnating and sufferng from structural economic problems... http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/business/ford-to-increase-its-plant-capacity-in-india.html?ref=global-home

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