With an investment of Rs. 500 crores, Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts will put up a plant for automotive components at Bidadi, in the vicinity of Bangalore. This would be its third manufacturing plant here. Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts is jointly owned by Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan, Toyota Industries Corporation, Japan, and Kirloskar Systems, Bangalore. 90 per cent of the stake in the company is held by the Toyota group, which already has two manufacturing plants at Bidadi.
The components developed at these plants are exported to foreign markets as well as supplied in the domestic market. Manual transmissions for Fortuner are manufactured here, along with propeller shafts and front and rear axles for the Innova.
A clearance committee spearheaded by Chief Minister D. V. Sadananda Gowda recently gave the go-ahead to the Japanese manufacturer's proposal to establish the plant, which would produce castings and machine parts. This development was confirmed by the Karnataka government through an official notification. In this regard, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on June 7 and 8, 2012 in Bangalore at the Global Investors' Meet. By establishing this new facility, 150 new jobs in Bangalore will be created and the fresh investment would make the company’s total investment to Rs. 1,000 crores.
At the upcoming plant, Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts will look forward to manufacturing 2,40,000 castings of engine parts and 1,20,000 units of machine parts. The manufacturer has asked the government for an additional 17 acres of land for the project. The land would be acquired by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board; however, this would be possible only if the car maker manages to take permission from 80 per cent of the people who own the land for this endeavour. Since large amounts of water would be required at the plant, the board has sanctioned 6,00,000 litres of water per day to the company.
T. R. Parasuraman, Senior Vice President (Administration, Finance and Human Resources), said, “We have signed a MoU with the state government for an investment of Rs. 500 crores for the new capacity. As part of the new investment, we would manufacture petrol engine parts and transmission units for Toyota’s small car, the Etios Liva, and the Etios sedan. We will export 55 per cent of the 2,40,000 transmission units to Toyota’s Brazil facility, while the remaining 45 per cent would be used for domestic consumption.”
The company develops 1,80,000 R-type transmissions every year at the plant in Bidadi, which is an export-oriented unit. Its axle plant has a capacity of 75,000 units a year and is used to make axles and propeller shafts for Innova. The company plans to manufacture engines at the proposed plant and expand its export-oriented unit. This would be a part of company’s localisation project and would supply gearboxes for the Etios and Etios Liva models, which will be manufactured by early 2013.
According to a senior company official, the powertrains would be manufactured at the new plant for the Etios and the Etios Liva by end of July or early August. The company produces and supplies manual gearboxes for Toyota’s global Multi Purpose Vehicles (MPVs) in India as well as countries like Thailand and Argentina.
