Toyota Kirloskar begins exports from India.

Chennai: Toyota Kirloskar Motors Pvt. Ltd. on Wednesday started exports from India, dispatching 247 units of its Etios sedan and hatchback vehicles to South Africa from Ennore Port in Chennai. It aims to export 20,000 cars to the African nation this year.

The company is exporting the petrol version of the Etios sedan and the Etios Liva hatchback, manufacturing the export model at its second plant outside Bangalore. Cars for the domestic market are also manufactured at this plant.

Toyota Kirloskar Motors is a joint venture between Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. and the Kirloskar Group.

With the start of exports, “we have been successful in completing our vision of making Toyota India operations a strategic hub for both the domestic and global market,” said Hiroshi Nakagawa, managing director of Toyota Kirloskar.

With the African economies booming, car-makers in India are eyeing South Africa -- the continent’s largest economy -- which offers significant demographic parallels with India.

“In terms of market dynamics, it’s very similar to India,” said Pragya Bansal, auto industry analyst at Fitch Ratings India Pvt. Ltd. “Just as in India, there is considerable demand in South Africa for small cars. It is definitely a mid-segment market.”

Toyota is the latest foreign car-maker to export its small car to South Africa from India. Ford India Pvt. Ltd. began exporting its Figo small car to the African country in 2010, and the Micra hatchback from Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd. began shipment to South Africa from Ennore last year.

“Yes, there are many competitors there already,” said Calvyn Hamman, vice president for sales and marketing at Toyota South Africa Motors (Pty) Ltd. “We’ve lost market share in passenger vehicles. But we’ve researched the market. We’ve seen the shift to smaller vehicles. And Etios will be ideal vehicle for the market.”

A total of 590,000 automobiles are expected to be sold in South Africa this year, Hamman said. Toyota currently has a 8.5% market share in the African nation and hopes to raise it to 20% over the next few years, Hammam added.

No other export markets are currently being considered, said Hiroshi Nakagawa, managing director of Toyota Kirloskar.

The company also plans to raise production capacity in India. It will launch a new version of its Camry sedan in the domestic market this August, according to Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director for marketing at Toyota Kirloskar. The vehicle will be assembled at its Bangalore plant rather than being imported, Singh said.

Starting next year, the company will also market the luxury Lexus brand in India, Nakagawa said.

The company expects to raise production capacity from 210,000 this year at its two plants outside Bangalore to 310,000 next year, Singh said. The firm’s second plant, set up last year with an initial investment of Rs3,200 crore, will contribute two-thirds of the company’s capacity by next year.

Toyota Kirloskar is looking to achieve 90% localisation next year on the Etios series from the current 70%, Nakagawa said. With this, the company hopes to avoid supply disruptions of the sort caused by the Thailand floods last year, which it got around by sourcing parts from Indonesia and Japan.

A petrol engine plant being built by Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts Pvt. Ltd is coming up near the auto maker’s two existing factories outside Bangalore, and is set to be commissioned by mid-2012, according to Nakagawa. The component company is also expanding its transmissions plant to supply Etios transmissions by next year.

About 80% of Toyota Kirloskar’s passenger car sales are from diesel models, according to Singh.

Source : livemint.com