Toyota to expand Bidadi plant capacity

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited (TKM) has chalked out plans to increase the capacity of its manufacturing facility by an additional 15,000 units, taking the total capacity of the unit to 60,000 units.

"The Indian car market is set to double every five years and this offers a huge opportunity to a company like Toyota Kirloskar Motor. We will definitely introduce a small car in the Indian market, but it is too premature to say, as no concrete plans have been made as yet," Atsushi Toyoshima, managing director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor told Business Standard.

Toyoshima was in Ahmedabad on Tuesday to launch the Toyota Prado, a premium sports utility vehicle from the Toyota stable.

Without stating the investments that will made at the Bidadi plant in Karnataka, Toyoshima said the company has purchased 420 acres of land, of which the built up area is just about 20 per cent.

"We have no problems of space at Bidadi and plan to increase the manufacturing capacity of the Corolla and the Qualis. Over the next few months, the capacity of the plant will be increased by 15,000 to 60,000 vehicles," said Toyoshima.

At present, Toyota manufactures about 35,000 units of the multi utility vehicle (MUV) Toyota Qualis every year and another 10,000 units of the D segment premium car Corolla a year.

The other two Toyota vehicles, Camry and the SUV Prado, are presently not manufactured in India and are imported from Japan. The land cruiser Prado is being manufactured at the Tahara plant of Toyota in Japan, the TKM MD said.

Plans are on to increase the capacity of the Toyota Qualis by another 10,000 units a year, taking the total capacity of Qualis to 45,000.

Meanwhile, Toyota will also increase the capacity of the Corolla by another 5,000 to a total capacity of 15,000. This means that TKM is looking at a quantum jump in the sales of both, the Qualis as well as the Corolla.

Toyota will also enhance its dealership network across the country over the next one year, as close to 20 new dealerships will be added, Toyoshima said.