Toyota Motor Expects India 2009 Sales To Stay behind Level
Toyota Motor Corp..(TM) expects its Indian vehicle sales to remain flat in 2009, mainly because the automaker doesn’. yet sell . small car in the country.
The Japanese firm sold 51,800. cars and sport-utility vehicles in India last year, lagging behind competitors General Motors Corp..(GM ), Suzuki Motor Corp..(7269.TO) and Hyundai Motor Co..(005280.SE).
“We would like to maintain what we did last year,” Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director of Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd., said at the launch of the new Land Cruiser sport-utility vehicle, or SUV..“The market is doing well, but growth is more in the small car (segment).”
Toyota Kirloskar, which is 89% owned by Toyota and the remainder by India’s Kirloskar group, started operations in December 1999. It produces the Innova multi-purpose vehicle and the Corolla Altis sedan as well as importing the Camry and Land Cruiser Prado SUV as fully built units.
Toyota plans to introduce its first small car in India by the end of next year. Rivals such as GM , Suzuki and Hyundai already sell small cars – which comprised 73% of the 1.22 million cars sold in India in the fiscal year ended March 31.
That figure has led other automakers to introduce small cars in an effort to capture a larger share of the market.
Honda Motor Co. (HMC) will Wednesday introduce its first small car in India, the Jazz hatchback model. Ford Motor Co. (F) is also planning to debut its small car in India early next year.
Singh said Toyota is increasing vehicle production to meet a steady improvement in sales in the local market. The company had cut production since December as local sales declined.
“The market is improving in the last three months,” Singh said. “We have been ramping up our production since May.”
He said Toyota will produce 4,500 vehicles in June, increasing to 5,300 in July.
Car sales in India rose for the fourth straight month in April as easing loan rates and the introduction of new small cars attracted more customers.
Toyota has a factory near Bangalore that can produce about 60,000 vehicles per year. A new factory is being constructed adjacent to the current plant, where the company will produce its new small car.
“The new plant will have a capacity for 70,000 small cars and we will be able to increase it to 100,000 cars if the market improves,” Singh said.
Hiroshi Nakagawa, Toyota Kirloskar’s managing director, said the company will continue to introduce new vehicles to expand its presence in India.
“The Indian market is showing signs of recovery and we are expecting great potential from India,” he said. “Toyota aims to be a major player in this emerging marketplace.”
The new Land Cruiser, which has a 4.5-liter diesel engine, will be sold in two versions – costing INR8.16 million and INR8.31 million.
Toyota will also introduce the Fortuner SUV by September and plans to sell 400 units each month, Singh said.
