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Priyanka Vyas

New Delhi, Sept 14

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has already begun the action on the ground for its small car. Even though in July the TKM Managing Director, Mr Atsushi Toyoshima, had said that the company had not firmed up its plans on the small car, it is learnt that the company has invited bids for various products from auto component makers.

According to vendor sources, the bidding for Toyota’s small car has been initiated in the last few months. For some of the products, the company would start short-listing its vendors in the coming few months. When contacted, the company officials were not available for comment.

For certain categories such as lamps and batteries, Toyota would finalise its vendors by next month or latest by November. However, for other products such as engine transmission, the company is expected to take a decision by the end of the year or beginning of next year.

“Usually the time gap between products like bulbs and other products is between 1-3 months. Considering this, Toyota should finalise its vendors in the coming few months,” said a vendor who has submitted the bid for some of the company’s products some time ago and expects a decision by next month.

Another source said that the company had invited bids in an earlier occasion as well – a year and half ago – when it was evaluating the market. However, industry sources say that this time round, the company seems to be in the final stages of narrowing down on its vendors.

The small car segment has caught the fancy of other global auto companieslike Nissan-Renault after Tata Motors announced its plans to launch the Rs 1-lakh car. Currently, the domestic compact car segment is dominated by Maruti Udyog Ltd which enjoys half of the overall market share with models such as Alto, Wagon R and Estilo.

TKM would work along with its Japanese counterpart, Toyota Motor Corporation, to finalise on the vendors as well as on the design and the engineering front. Further, sources said that the company was likely to source a particular product from more than one vendor.

While Mr Toyoshima had declined to give any details about TKM’s plans on the small car in July, the Toyota Motor Corporation Board Chairman, Mr Fujio Cho, had said in August that the company’s small car was likely to be launched by 2009.

He had also said that India was being considered among the several countries from where the company would debut its small car.

TKM, the joint venture company of Toyota and Kirloskar Motors, is looking to grab 15 per cent of the passenger vehicles market in India by 2015 from its current 3.7 per cent.

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