Toyota to make India small car hub

The ‘big daddy' of the automobile industry seems to be finally fuelling up for India. As it wraps up small car plans for the Indian market, the Japanese auto major promised to the Government to make India a base for export of the car to other markets, a development that would sure provide a boost to the Government's intention of making India a hub for manufacture of small cars.

Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe on Monday called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath and apprised them of the company's plans for the market. "He met me and informed me that Toyota would be doubling its investments in India and would also make small cars in the market that would be exported to other countries as well," Nath said after the meeting.

Watanabe, whose team included Indian joint venture partner Vikram Kirloskar, refused to speak about plans for the market and officials dubbed his meetings as a "courtesy call".

However, Nath said the company would finalise small car plans in the next 3-4 months before going in for expansion of production. "They have said they would be expanding at their current manufacturing location, near Bangalore, and would not go for any new location," Nath added.

Toyota Kirloskar's small car project is believed to be in an advanced stage. The company is currently finalising key vendors for the project that would help it get it sales numbers, considering it had a poor 3.6% share of the passenger vehicle market last fiscal.

Government officials said Toyota's plans were in line with India's intention of becoming a hub for small cars.
Toyota has already signalled that India could play a big role in the coming years. The company has said it would increase production capacity in the country more than ten-fold to 6 lakh units by 2015 from the current about 55,000 units as it hopes to corner a big 15% share in one of the world's fastest-growing auto markets.

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/India_Business/Toyota_to_make_India_small_car_hub/articleshow/2738901.cms