The Hindu Business Line : Toyota to unveil new vehicle this year

Launch plans
The new vehicle is a toss-up between the sports utility vehicle, Toyota Fortuner, and the pick up truck, Hilux Vigo.
The company wants to fully utilise the 60,000-unit per annum capacity of its Bangalore plant.

Bangalore , April 5

Toyota Kirloskar Motor is working on a new vehicle, based on the IMV platform, which is expected to be launched later this year.

Sources in the company told Business Line even the Corolla might undergo a few changes in line with the facelift the model is undergoing globally. The new vehicle that is likely to be launched is a toss-up between the sports utility vehicle, Toyota Fortuner, and the pick up truck, Hilux Vigo.

To fully use capacity

Sources said the carmaker wants to fully utilise the existing capacity of the plant near Bangalore, which is around 60,000 units per year. With the company planning to produce between 52,000 and 54,000 cars of all the existing models this year, the rest of the capacity is expected to be utilised to make another vehicle.

During 2005-06, Toyota sold a total of 46,348 vehicles, which is nearly 8 per cent more than 2004-05. This includes 36,547 Innovas and 8,866 units of Corolla.

Models on IMV platform

The multi-purpose vehicle Innova is also based on the IMV (innovative international multipurpose vehicle) platform. Another vehicle, which is based on the IMV platform, is the Toyota Fortuner, one of the fastest selling vehicles in South-East Asia. The 2.7-lt Fortuner has both the petrol as well as the diesel variants and directly competes with Ford Endeavour and Hyundai Tucson.

There is also a possibility that the Hilux Vigo pick-up truck could be launched ahead of the sports utility vehicle, Fortuner. Both Hilux Vigo as well as Fortuner SUV have already been launched in Thailand.

The IMV platform has already put together five models which includes, the Innova, the Hilux Vigo pick-up trucks which are available in double cab, extra cab and standard cab models, and the Fortuner SUV. The IMV project relies on global production and supply bases which are all based outside Japan.

India is one the key countries for the IMV project. Apart from the Philippines, it supplies manual transmission parts for all the IMV-based vehicles, while the diesel engines for the platform are sourced from Thailand and petrol engines are sourced from Indonesia.