Toyota is planning to set up 2nd India plant in 2009

Tokyo:
A leaked copy of Toyota Motor Corp.’s “global master plan” calls for grabbing 15 per cent of the world car market by 2010 in the company’s quest to unseat rival General Motors, a newspaper said on Monday.

Toyota declined to comment on the report in The Wall Street Journal, but confirmed that the world’s No. 2 automaker is betting on surging demand in Russia, India China and Brazil to fuel rapid expansion.

Toyota may add car factories in India, China and the US as early as in 2009, with a combined annual output capacity of 450,000 units, WSJ reported.

The Indian factory — slated to open in 2009 — may be opened in Karnataka where it already has its first plant in Bidadi. It will have a capacity of 150,000 low-cost cars a year, the Journal said. Toyota, on pace to end GM’s half-century reign as the world’s biggest carmaker, has mapped out plans to capture 15 per cent of the global market in the next three years, up from 11 per cent in 2005, the newspaper reported, citing a confidential document it said was circulated to top Toyota executives earlier this year.

The 15 per cent projection includes affiliates Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motors. Excluding those affiliates, Toyota is aiming for a 14 per cent market share, according to the Journal.

The plan predicts global auto sales by all carmakers to jump to 73 million vehicles in 2010 from 65 million in 2005, the newspaper said, adding that Toyota will likely boost production in India and China to meet demand. The company is already working on a new compact specially geared toward developing countries, where car ownership is on the rise but family budgets are still small, the report said.

In Tokyo, Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco said he could not comment on the report.