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Toyota displays hybrid Prius

— PHOTO: G. R. N. SOMASHEKAR

LOOKING FOR SOPS: Hiroshi Nakagawa (left), Managing Director, and Vikram S. Kirloskar, Vice-Chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, with the Prius car displayed at a technology fair in Bangalore on Monday.

BANGALORE: Toyota Kirloskar Motor anticipates the automotive market to pick up in the second half of this year; it will also roll out its ‘small car’ by end of 2010, Managing Director Hiroshi Nakagawa said here on Monday.

Talking to reporters at the 18th International Engineering and Technology Fair (IETF), he said “The small car will be entirely new, designed specifically for the Indian market. Work on our second plant in Bangalore is on schedule and some of the additional capacity will be for the small car”. Toyota Kirloskar at present has a capacity of 60,000-65,000 units and the second plant will add 70,000 units. Toyota is weighing the options of the small car as a hatchback or a sedan. Pricing would very much depend on forex fluctuations.

Toyota used the fair to display its hybrid car Prius, first launched in 1997. The company sold one million cars so far. Mr. Nakagawa said “The Indian market may not be ready yet for the Prius. It can be made here if the government extends the kind of tax concessions available in Europe and Japan itself. We are in talks with the Indian government about this.”

Deputy Managing Director-Marketing, Sandeep Singh, said sales began to pick up from January after a dull December, indicating that the market was reviving and consumer confidence returning. Factors such as cut in excise duty and easier loans had also helped. “We sold 52,000 units of Innova and Corolla last year and we should reach the same figure this year too,” he said.

South African Minister for Trade and Industry, Elizabeth Thabethe, who inaugurated the IETF, speaking to reporters later said bilateral trade with India last year amounted to $6.2 billion and could reach $12 billion a year ahead.

While South Africa’s exports predominantly minerals, Indian expertise to create value additions were being sought.

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