Toyota Motor Corp. intends to begin manufacturing its Etios sedan, developed specifically for this market, in their Brazilian auto market by 2012 end. The company said in a filing with the securities exchange commission of the US, that in August last year, the company had decided to build a vehicle facility in Sorocaba, Brazil.
This facility will likely produce the Etios sedan launched in India, having an annual production capacity of around 70,000 units. The facility is expected to begin production by late 2012.
Toyota is present in the Indian auto market, through its joint venture with Kirloskar Group, Toyota Kirloskar Motor. The company launched their Etios sedan last December India, which has a big success since then, seeing a strong demand. The company also launched their hatchback Liva variant last month.
Around 4,000 engineers were involved in developing the Toyota Etios sedan over a period of five years. Officials from the company maintained that serving the Indian auto market remained their main priority, while exports came second. The company has also invested a total of INR 3,200 crores for opening their second plant in Bangalore to produce the Etios sedan powered by a petrol 1.5l engine. Meanwhile, the Liva hatchback is equipped with a petrol 1.2l engine. following strong demand for their Etios sedan, the company hopes to expand production capacity at their second plant from 70,000 vehicles per annum to 1,20,000 vehicles per annum.
TKM currently produces around 6,000 models of the Liva and Etios a month, which will be raised to 8,000 models in a month, by Sept. They intend to sell around 60,000 models of both the Liva hatchback and Etios sedan this year, of which Liva will account for 20,000 models.