Japanese car maker Toyota’s Indian joint venture Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) will finalise its plans of setting up a diesel engine plant in the next 3 to 6 months.
?We are currently conducting the feasibility study of such a plant and should be able to communicate our plans within 3 to 6 months,? TKM’s deputy managing director marketing, Sandeep Singh, said at the launch of the company’s next generation premium sedan Camry.
The company currently does not have a diesel engine plant and imports them to sell diesel variants in the country. The company said that given the current environment of uncertainty over the ‘diesel car tax’, as well as a possible hike in the diesel price, the company was unable to firm up any plans. Plans of setting up a diesel engine plant have been in the offing for the company given that 78% of its total sales in the country are in the diesel segment.
The company said it was boosting its capacity to produce 1 lakh more cars in India through an investment of another R900 crore by March at its two plants at Bidadi in Bangalore.
The annual production capacity at the first plant, where TKM manufactures models such as the Innova and Fortuner, will increase by 10,000 from the existing capacity of 90,000 units, its senior vice-president (external affairs, corporate governance, legal and CSR), K Srikanth, and vice president (sales), Sailesh Shetty said.
The annual production capacity at its second plant, where Corolla Altis, Etios, Etios Liva and the new Camry are produced, would be scaled up to 210,000 from the current 120,000.
In spite of localisation in the new Camry, the car has been priced at R23.8 lakh (ex-showrroom Bangalore). The previous generation Camry is priced between R21.58 lakh and R23.73 lakh (ex showroom Delhi).
The Camry, however, continues to be available only in the petrol category as the company globally doesn’t manufacture a diesel engine Camry, Singh added.
TKM sold 111,000 units in seven months (January-July) of the current calendar year, up 57% compared to the same period in 2011, Shetty said.
The company has targeted to sell 1.8 lakh units in the whole of 2012, up from 1.33 lakh in the previous calendar year.
