New Delhi: Toyota Motors is planning to build three vehicle assembly plants in India’s Maharashtra as carmakers shift focus on emerging markets from stagnating ones like China and the United States, as reported by the newspaper Nikkei on Friday. The new facilities will triple in terms of production capacity for the world’s biggest carmaker to 1 million units in India by the 2030s, with an estimated investment of about $1.9 billion, as quoted by the paper.
In its statement, Toyota has said that there was no decision made yet about the construction of the new factory, although it was constantly reviewing production arrangements, working in collaboration with other stakeholders in every region where it works.
Investments in India going into billions of dollars by Toyota, Honda and Suzuki indicate the South Asian nation’s growing importance in terms of manufacturing hubs, as had been noted by Reuters as well.
What will happen in the three new production lines in India
The new plants will bring Toyota’s tally of factories in India to six, with the three already present in the southern market. The new plants will also be handling products for export functions, Nikkei had said. Toyota’s production capacity in Japan is 3.1 million units, while in China and the USA it is 2.2 million and 1.5 million, respectively, as per the Japanese research company Fourin.
The three new plants will make India its fourth-biggest production base, the Nikkei said, and further noted Toyota could also produce a plug-in hybrid for environmentally conscious consumers.