Toyota to Speed up Expansion in India With Rural Push, New SUVs

Toyota is revving up its push into India with plans to launch over a dozen new and refreshed models by the end of the decade.

Hit hard by local competition in China, the world’s biggest carmaker is looking to deepen its rural network in India, sources have said, as record profits in the country make the market increasingly important.

Toyota is, in fact, just one of several global automakers that have set their sights on India as a market worthy of heavy investment, partly because it currently enjoys surging economic growth that has averaged 8% over the past three fiscal years.

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Underscoring Toyota’s ambitions, the Japanese automaker is now aiming to lift its share of the country’s passenger car market before the end of the decade to 10% from 8% currently, one of the sources said.

Success would see it become less reliant on alliance partner Suzuki, which provides Toyota with vehicles that are then rebadged under the Toyota brand.

New plant planned in Maharashtra state

Toyota last year announced more than $3 billion in investment to expand production at its existing factories in southern India and build a new car plant in western Maharashtra state. But details of its product line-up plans and dealership strategies have not previously been reported.

The 15 models will include Toyota’s own cars, vehicles supplied by Suzuki, as well as upgrades of existing models, according to three people briefed on the matter.

There are likely to be at least two new SUVs from Toyota’s own brand, which will be designed to take on leading SUV-makers like Mahindra & Mahindra and Hyundai Motor, as well as an affordable pickup truck to widen its appeal in rural India, one of the sources said.

Toyota is also setting up lean-format sales outlets, with just one or two cars on display instead of the whole range, and smaller, two-bay workshops in rural areas to make deeper inroads there, the source added.

“Toyota has a two-pronged strategy for India – lure customers from competitors with mid-market and premium SUVs and continue adding buyers in small towns and rural markets,” a second source said.

The sources, who declined to be named as the information is private, said the strategy is still being finalised.

Toyota said in a statement that it had not announced this information and it does not comment on speculation.

Record profits via Suzuki alliance

The Japanese carmaker’s local unit, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, logged a record profit of $640 million last fiscal year, thanks to its alliance with Suzuki, which boosted sales and increased factory utilisation.

While Toyota is by far the larger automaker, Suzuki’s local unit, Maruti Suzuki, is the top car company in India, where it dominates with fuel-efficient and affordable small, compact cars.

India has become Toyota’s third-largest market outside Japan – trailing the United States and China. Toyota sold over 300,000 vehicles in India last year, of which about 60% were Suzuki models, and has a growing share of exports to countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Toyota’s capacity expansion will happen in phases, but once complete, it will be able to produce over 1 million cars a year in India between its two manufacturing sites.

The carmaker’s hybrids like the Urban Cruiser Hyryder SUV and Innova Hycross MPV have helped it carve out a lead in alternate-fuel vehicles – something it plans to build on with new product launches, the sources said.

At its new plant in western Aurangabad city, Toyota’s first product is expected to be an SUV which will come with multiple powertrains, including gasoline, hybrid and electric, and which will be sold in India and exported, the sources said.

In addition to Toyota’s $3 billion investment, Suzuki announced in August that it would invest $8 billion in India over the next five to six years.

Plus, Hyundai Motor said this month, it will invest $5 billion to expand its Indian manufacturing and research operations.