With rising demands of small cars in emerging economies, major automobile manufacturers throughout the world have announced developing cars cut out for such markets. Nissan recently introduced its brand Datsun for India, to develop small cars under Nissan with a Datsun badge.
Toyota, however, thought otherwise and announced that it will remain firm on its decision to develop cars with uncompromised reliability. According to President of Toyota Motor Corporation, Mr. Akino Toyoda, the Japanese automaker is not keen to improve its sales figures in emerging markets like India, by developing small cheap cars, and it would continue to deliver reliability and quality. He also stated that the company is a full-line carmaker and doesn’t have the capability to develop ultra-low cost cars like Tata Motors.
Though Tata Motors is recognized for developing the Nano as the world’s cheapest production car, yet it did not boost the sales of Indian auto giant because the product lacked reliability and quality. Other rivals of Toyota in India, like Nissan and Volkswagen, have also made announcements about adding small, cheap cars to their lineup to drive higher volumes in sales. Mr. Toyoda also suggested that the Japanese company carries an image of reliability in market, which cannot be compromised with cheaper products.
Other emerging economies targeted as potential market are Russia, Brazil and China, where Nissan and VW plan to expand their network of small cars. Toyota will not be making low-cost, small cars for these markets, however, like Nissan, it may introduce smaller cars with a different badge.