Toyota Kirloskar Motors, the Indian subsidiary of Japanese auto giant Toyota, would allow seven component makers including global player Asahi Glass to house their assembly units at its upcoming compact car plant in India.
The on-site components producers at Toyota’s premises will supply components for the compact cars to be rolled out by Toyota starting from 2010 at its second plant, a top official attached to TKM said. Toyota is constructing its second production plant with an investment of Rs 1,400 crore to manufacture compact cars at its existing premises in Bidadi near Bangalore. Initially the production capacity of the second plant will be at one lakh units and later the capacity would be increased up to two lakh vehicles per annum.
Allowing component manufacturers to set up in-house plants would enable the car producer to get specially designed components at competitive price while getting original equipment (OE) fitments on the spot, the official requesting anonymity added. He said the company has identified component giants like Jai Bharat Maruti (JBM), Stanzen Toyotetsu India Pvt Ltd, Wheels India Ltd of TVS Group, Asahi Glass, Bundy India, Tata Johnson Controls Automotive Ltd and Supreme Greaves as on-site suppliers.
Ashai Glass has 14 glass manufacturing plants in five locations across the country with three units exclusively for auto glass. The unit to be set up in Toyota would be the fourth one for auto glass, said Sanjay Labroo, managing director and chief executive officer of Asahi India Glass, the 50:50 joint venture of Asahi Glass of Japan and the Labroo family. Already Asahi has supplied glasses to Toyota’s phased out model Qualis and now is supplying to Toyota’s other models like Innova and Corolla, he added. Asahi’s unit in Toyota’s compact car plant would be ready in the next 6-8 months, Labroo added. According to Toyota official, these seven on-site component suppliers will cater to the main requirements of the compact car including press parts, seating, wheels, glasses, decorative interiors and section of break units.
