Japanese automotive major Toyota expects to boost capacity utilisation at its manufacturing plants in India with the newly introduced sedan Yaris, and making cross-badged cars through the Suzuki-Toyota alliance, providing strong volume growth.

The company, which has two manufacturing facilities in India, is witness to one of the unit functioning at 100 per cent capacity and another one at lower capacity. However, the response seen from Yaris is likely to add to capacity utilisation, said Sekhar Vishwanathan, Vice-Chairman and Wholetime Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor.

Launching its new sedan here, the Toyota senior official said that Yaris has been a popular car across various markets, selling more than 300,000 units, and its introduction is expected to create huge excitement in India. Already, there have been more than 60,000 enquiries for the car. This would mean higher capacity utilisation of the second plant.

While the unit one of 100,000 capacity is functioning at full capacity, the unit two of 2,10,000 units is functioning at 30 per cent. “We intend to increase this to 50 per cent initially and to full capacity gradually. The Japanese headquarters is open to expansion provided we utilise the full capacity,” he said. Asked if they would consider introducing a diesel variant of Yaris, he said: “As of now, there are no plans. However, we will see how the customers react to the petrol car and seek their feedback. If the demand is huge we may look into it. The cost of adding diesel unit is high and we consciously preferred a petrol car.”

“With new emission norms set to kick in, we need to tread cautiously. As a leading global automotive player, we believe the market should decide the type of car they require,” he explained.

“We have the entire range of cars spanning electric vehicles, 34 models of hybrids, among others. However, for a market like India, the best way would be to transition by popularising hybrid cars, which would help smoother move towards EVs,” he said.

Referring to recent arrangement between Toyota and Suzuki to share and cross badge cars, he said that the modalities are being worked out. “While we will make Corolla, the world's largest selling car for Suzuki, Toyota will source Baleno and Vitara Brezza. We may see their roll out next year,” he said.

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