Toyota Extends Timeline for Capturing 10% of India Market to 2015

7 September 2008

Nikkei. Toyota Motor Corp. said it has extended its original timeline for capturing 10% of the automotive market in India by five years to 2015. Toyota currently has a 3.7% share.

“We expect vehicle sales in India, including commercial vehicles, to double to 4 million units by 2015 and we want to have a 10% share of that market,” said Hiroshi Nakagawa, managing director at Toyota’s local unit. “We have a lot of product lineup and we have to study carefully, which model we want to introduce.”

“Maybe we have been optimistic. Maybe we have been a little slower in product introduction strategy than we originally planned,” said Vikram Kirloskar, vice chairman of the local unit, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd. [TKM], a joint venture with India’s Kirloskar group.

TKM plans to sell 63,000 vehicles in 2008, up from 54,000 in the previous year. The company produces the Innova multipurpose vehicle and Corolla sedan domestically, and imports the Camry sedan and Land Cruiser Prado SUV.

Toyota has begun construction of a second 100,000-unit plant on the site of TKM. The new plant will produce passenger vehicles, including a new, low-cost compact that will be introduced in 2010. (Earlier post.)