Toyota Motor Corp. announced on May 25 that it would seek to increase sales of compact cars specially designed for emerging economies to 1 million by 2015 from the current annual level of between 60,000 and 80,000.
A total of eight models will be introduced in those emerging economies, including the Etios that Toyota now sells in India.
Japan's largest automaker also plans to increase production capacity in emerging economies to about 3.1 million vehicles a year by 2013.
Toyota defines all nations outside advanced economies as “newly emerging economies.” The ratio of sales in those economies reached 45 percent of total global sales in 2011, and company officials want to raise the ratio to the 50-percent level to equal the ratio in advanced economies by 2015.
Compact cars will be the key ingredient in Toyota's strategy for emerging economies. Two models of the Etios have sold a total of 100,000 vehicles over a 17-month period. Toyota plans to use basically the same undercarriage to add six new models under the Toyota brand. The vehicles would be priced at about 1 million yen ($12,560) and sold in more than 100 nations, including China.
Toyota also plans to make Thailand, India and Indonesia its bases for the production and export of compact cars. Plans call for increasing production in those nations to a total of about 3.1 million vehicles a year, on par with production capacity in Japan. In order to cut production costs, all parts for those vehicles will be procured locally.
Toyota also plans to produce, from 2016, a compact car in India that would sell for about 500,000 yen.
Executive Vice President Yukitoshi Funo indicated Toyota would cooperate with group companies in the production of inexpensive compact cars.
"One theme of increasing importance will be cooperation with Daihatsu Motor Co. (a group company that has know-how in producing compact cars)," Funo said at a May 25 news conference.
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