Toyota Kirloskar to spend Rs500 crore on Etios plant
07 Jul 2010
Toyota Motor Corp said on Tuesday it would invest about 9 billion yen (Rs500 crore) to produce engines and transmissions for the Etios compact car which it has developed for the Indian market.
With the much-anticipated Toyota small car just a few months away from launch, the company is setting up an exclusive engine and transmissions plant near its existing facility on the outskirts of Bangalore, to be set up by its joint venture company Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts.
The move would create about 500 new jobs, Toyota said.
Toyota is scheduled to begin building the Etios model in India in late 2010. The world's top automaker will assemble the Etios with engines and transmissions exported from Japan until local production begins, a Toyota spokeswoman said.
Some of the 240,000 transmissions will be exported from India, she said, declining to disclose the destination.
Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts currently produces axles, propeller shafts and manual transmissions with a workforce of about 800.
Vikram Kirloskar, vice chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts, said, "When I started negotiating with Toyota 10-12 years, my decision was that I do not want it to be a screwdriver business. I wanted to be in hardcore manufacturing. And luckily for me, Toyota also had the same idea.
