The Indian unit of the Japanese auto giant Toyota is all set to export its mass segment Etios Series of cars to the South African Market by March 2012. The Toyota Kirloskar portfolio cars that will be exported include entry level sedan Etios and compact hatchback Etios Liva.
In a press release issued on Thursday, the company said that export models of both Etios and Liva will be manufactured at the same platform on which Indian models are currently being manufactured. The second manufacturing facility of the company at Bidadi in the outskirts of Bangalore where it produces the Etios cars, will be used for rolling-out export models.
However, the export model of Etios will be carrying a few technical and feature differences, as the buyers in the South African market have different needs and requirements as compared to their counterparts in India.
The company plans to ramp-up the capacity at its Bidadi plant from current 80,000 to 1,20,000 by year 2012. The capacity will be further boosted to 2,10,000 units by year 2013. Initially, the company will be exporting only petrol variants of the car to the South African market.
The Etios sedan model was launched in the Indian market in December 2010, followed by the hatchback version in June 2011.
