Toyota to pump in more money in second Indian plant

Automotive major Toyota Motor Corporation will pump in an amount close to Rs 3,200 crore in building a new plant in India. The aim is to meet the broad needs of customers in India, where the car market is growing at a rapid pace, said the company.

To come up at Bidadi near Bangalore, the plant is expected to go on stream in 2010. The company has said that the plant will have an initial annual production capacity of around 1,00,000 vehicles. Toyota Kirloskar currently produces the Corolla and the Innova at the existing plant. With production set to begin at the second plant in 2010, the two plants will have a combined annual production capacity of around 1,60,000 vehicles. The company is expanding its local production in India and is actively investing to create attractive products.

Toyota Motor Corporation will ready its second plant to produce passenger vehicles, including the Corolla. Besides the Corolla, the car maker plans to roll out its new compact vehicle from the new Bidadi plant.

It is expected that the new plant and the existing one would together play an important role in Toyota Motor’s sustainable plant activities. The company’s plans is to emphasise the role of nature in creating production sites that are in harmony with their natural surroundings, said a newspaper report.

Though it is being said that the company had earlier made a decision to invest Rs 1,647 crore for the buildings and basic equipment for the second plant, the company later decided to put in an additional amount of around Rs 1,553 crore. The additional money is to be utilized towards general-purpose and specialised equipment necessary for manufacturing a new compact vehicle. The company has already announced that it would hit the market with a compact vehicle.