Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM), the Indian arm of Japanese car maker Toyota, is gearing up to being exporting its new Etios vehicles to South Africa (SA) in 2012. It has chosen May 21 as the day to officially launch the Etios entry level sedan and Etios Liva premium hatchback in the market, while export operations will start in April 2012. The manufacturer had come up with the Etios series of cars especially for India as well as other price conscious markets.
Regarding this development, Hiroshi Nakagawa, Managing Director, TKM, commented, "We are looking at exporting 20,000 units of the Etios series annually." The export versions of the two cars will be developed on the platform used to make the Etios and Etios Liva sold in India. However, it is anticipated that the automotive giant will modify their features and specifications in order to cater to the requirements of consumers in SA better. They will be placed as the car maker's entry level products when they hit the roads in South Africa.
Initially, only the petrol variants with right hand drive configuration will make their debut in the country. They will be manufactured at the company's Bangalore facility, whose annual installed capacity has been raised from 80,000 units to 1,20,000 units. After SA, the company may decide to send these two models to other nascent auto markets, such as Brazil and Thailand. However, this will begin only when TKM begins production of engine and transmission systems in India, which is expected to start by 2013.
