The world’s biggest carmaker by sales, Toyota Motor Corp, is developing 10 per cent more fuel-efficient small car for launch in India by early 2011 to beat market leaders Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai.
“For our upcoming small car, we have set the benchmark with Maruti’s Swift and Hyundai’s i20. We target development of a vehicle with 10 per cent more fuel efficiency than the Swift and i20,” Toyota Motor Corporation Chief Engineer (Product Planning for Passenger Vehicle) Yoshinori Noritake told a group of visiting Indian journalists here.
The company would introduce the car with a four-cylinder engine that will be Bharat Stage IV emission norm compliant.
Asked about engine specifications, Noritake said: “Though we have not decided, we are finalising the engine capacity to make it suitable for enjoying the excise duty benefits for the small car.”
Small cars, 1.2 litre for petrol and 1.5 litre for diesel engine, are charged only 8 per cent excise compared with 20 per cent for bigger cars in the Indian market.
He said besides fuel efficiency, pricing is a big challenge that Toyota is trying to overcome to be successful in the price-sensitive Indian market. “Pricing is very important. Toyota is looking very positively with this small car to mark a strong presence in the country,” Noritake said.
To reduce production cost, he said the company was looking at sharing components from other models with the proposed compact car.
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“It is very important to reduce the cost. Commonalisation of components of various models is helpful and now we are assessing this aspect,” he said, adding a major portion of the components will be sourced locally.
“But we are also considering to supply parts from the ASEAN countries such as Thailand and Indonesia to bring down the cost of the car,” he said.
The company is planning to launch both the hatchback and sedan versions of the car. The base model of the car will also have options to select various high-end safety features like ABS (anti braking system).
“We are also trying to make a diesel engine of the small car but nothing has been confirmed yet,” said Noritake, who is also the main architect of the small car.