The Hindu Business Line : Toyota-Kirloskar to reduce production cost by 50 pc

Sources in the company told Business Line that a 50 per cent reduction in production cost would be carried out in a phased manner. The company has also started initiating measures to make second-tier suppliers quality and cost conscious. "We want all our suppliers down the line to adhere to Toyota's stringent norms which will lead to overall improvement in performance," sources said.

Sources said Toyota has till date reduced production cost by over 25 per cent. These efforts have contributed to higher revenues and the company now plans to post a net profit for the first time this fiscal.

Toyota expects to increase its revenues by over 58 per cent to Rs 2,700 crore during 2003-04. It hopes to sell 34,000 vehicles during the corresponding period.

Earlier, company officials told presspersons at a function to mark the occasion of rolling out of the 100,000th domestically produced vehicle since it started operations four years ago, that it expects to have a 10 per cent market share by 2010. Toyota has committed to have a 15 per cent market share by 2010 globally. At present, the market share in India is around five per cent.

"Our goal is to achieve number one position in all the segments where we are present," said the Toyota-Kirloskar Managing Director, Mr Atsushi Toyoshima.

The company expects to sell 34,000 units of its flagship brand, Qualis by December 2003. During the first eight months of 2003, it has sold 20,055 units of its multi-purpose vehicle Qualis. It now has a market share of 33 per cent in the multi-purpose vehicle segment and expects to increase the share to 40 per cent by the end of the year.

To mark the occasion, Toyota launched a limited edition Qualis with new features. The ex-showroom price of the two variants of Qualis are Rs 6.14 lakh and Rs 6.36 lakh. Apart from competing with other MPVs, Toyota hopes to attract customers of Accent and Honda City as well.

The total sales of Toyota-Kirloskar Motor Company increased nearly 50 per cent to 3,492 vehicles in August compared with the corresponding period last year. The sale of Qualis increased 12 per cent to 2,607 units compared with the corresponding period last year.Mid-size Corolla which was launched in February sold a total 828 units in August. The high-end model Camry sold 57 units. Since its launch in February, Corolla sold a total of 5,250 units, while Camry, a CBU (completely built unit) since its launch in November 2002, has sold a total of 812 units.

Kirloskars plan to raise stake to 11 pc

THE Toyota-Kirloskar Motor Company Vice-Chairman, MR Vikram Kirloskar, has said that negotiations for increasing Kirloskars stake in the joint venture will start in March 2004.

Mr Kirloskar told presspersons that the joint venture partner, Kirloskar Systems has decided to exercise the option of a buyback as per the agreement signed between the two partners. Kirloskar Systems, at present, has a one per cent stake in the joint venture and wants to buy 10 per cent more before the agreement between the two gets over.

The company would want to buy back the 11 per cent though no price has been fixed so far. "We will buyback the entire lot and not stagger it over a period of time," he added.

When the joint venture began operations, Toyota Motor Company had 76 per cent, while Kirloskar Systems had the rest.

But over a period of four years, Kirloskars had diluted their stake to one per cent.

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