Toyota plans to make India as its exports and manufacturing hub for small cars. It is planning to launch a small car in India by 2010-11. The existing government has welcomed the plan and shall make all the efforts to help the plan materialize successfully.

"The plan for doubling the investment and making small cars in the Indian market has been appreciated by the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Kamal Nath, minister for Commerce and Industry. However, the plan will be finalised in few months and at present the company is concentrating on expanding the manufacturing unit near Bangalore," said Katsuaki Watanbe, President, Toyota India.

Toyota is already planning to launch its small car in association with Kirlosker in India. It is also talking with the local vendors to offer better sales and service to its customers. Toyota shall also expand from its present production capacity of 60,000 units to 5 lakh units annually by the year 2015. It is likely to export its cars to Brazil, Argentina, Malaysia, South Africa and Europe.

India is already a manufacturing and export hub for two major auto makers of India - Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai. Both the companies have already made India as their manufacturing hub for small cars and cater to the exports demand from India. Hyundai has currently crossed earmarked a milestone by bagging more than 1 lakh units export order for its latest model i10 in record time of less than  months.