Launching its latest hatch Liva in Hyderabad and increasing the production capacity at Bidadi plant in Karnataka, the Japanese automotive major Toyota on Monday said that it expects to double its sales during the year, thereby garnering a market share of about 5 per cent of the country’s automotive market.

“The company, which sold about 55,000 vehicles in 2009 and 74,000 units in 2010, is expecting to sell more than 1.4 lakh units during 2011. The growth in number will largely be driven by volumes from the Etios sedan and Liva hatch,” Mr. Sailesh Shetty, Vice President, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said.

Addressing a press conference here, he said that the company is planning to increase the localisation content to about 70-80 per cent, which will play a bigger role in its overall business plans.

The company is also at an advanced stage of evaluating the introduction of diesel option for the Etios range of sedan and Liva as there seems to be an increasing demand for diesel options, he said.

The General Manager (Marketing) of Toyota Kirloskar, Mr. R.K.Ramesh, said that the company has managed to garner a share of about 21 per cent in the petrol sedan market in the country after the lunch of Etios and is hoping to improve its performance with Liva targeting youth in particular.

Toyota is planning a series of advertising campaigns to support the launch of Liva and sees online medium playing a bigger role after television commercials. The company has developed a television commercial, with its brand ambassador and musician A.R.Rahman. It would also launch a video campaigns in music channels such as Channel V.

He said that as social media is playing a much larger role in the current context, the company is laying special thrust on this segment, targeting youth with high purchasing power and aspirations.

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