Location close to its current two plants at Bidadi
Despitethe slowing Indian automotive market,one of the worlds largest carmakers,Toyota Motor is planning a third greenfield plant to meet any spurt in demand in the coming years.Toyota Motor,which operates a majority-owned Indian subsidiary,Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM),is looking at Hosur in Tamil Nadu as a possible location for local expansion.Hosur is close to its current two plants at Bidadi,lying in the suburb of Bangalore,in Karnataka that would reach a combined capacity of 3.1 lakh cars by January 2013.Toyota is one of the fastest growing car companies in a otherwise slowing Indian domestic market,as its sales grew 34% to reach 73,148 cars in the first five months of the fiscal.The company is aiming at an annual production of around 4-lakh vehicles by 2015-16 to take its market share to around 10%,when the Indian market is expected to breach the 4-million mark.Toyota,which entered India a decade back,had sold 1,60,203 vehicles in the previous fiscal to become Indias fifth-largest carmaker.Auto sales remained subdued during these months and grew by a marginal 0.86%,the lowest in the past three years.
TKM has already made public its intention to scale investments for a new greenfield diesel plant in India and to expand its transmissions capacity at its Bangalore facility.The company has been vying for higher localisation through a local facility to bring down costs in light of adverse currently fluctuations and a mounting import bill for critical auto components,currently shipped from Thailand and Japan.The company responded to a media query and said nothing has been decided yet, though it remained positive on future expansion plans depending on the growth of the Indian market.The investment plans for this proposed expansion could not be ascertained.According to industry sources,TKM has also kept its options open in other lucrative states like Gujarat,where hordes of automakers like Maruti Suzuki,Tata Motors and Ford have established their base along.Maharashtra as well as home Karnataka were the other states looked at.According to sources,the third plant,which may be Toyotas new production base in India,aims to launch operations by 2016.
Commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland and two-wheeler maker TVS Motors already have investments in the region and have set up manufacturing plants in this upcoming automotive hub.We have enough capacity to meet the domestic market demand and targeted exports to few markets like South Africa.We would like to sweat our assets before going in for any further expansion in the fast changing Indian auto market, said a senior TKM executive who preferring not to go on record.Toyota already plans to make India an export hub for other emerging markets besides South Africa.Many carmakers like Maruti Suzuki,Hyundai and Nissan are using it to build compact cars for European,African and Middle Eastern and South East Asian countries.Toyota already makes the Etios range,its strategic car targeting emerging markets,at Bidadi besides the Corolla Altis and the new Camry,along with its hugely successful Innova and Fortuner SUV.The company intends to boost the two plants annual capacity to 310,000 units by the end of the current fiscal year
Number Speak
TOYOTAS SALES GREW 34% to reach 73,148 cars in the first five months of the fiscal IT CAME FIFTH IN the previous fiscal with sales of 1,60,203 vehicles TOYOTA CURRENTLY MAKES the Etios range,the Corolla Altis,the new Camry,Innova and Fortuner SUV at Bidadi
