Japanese auto major Toyota Motors Corporation Ltd said on Tuesday that it has begun exporting transmission equipment, manufactured at its dedicated plant in Bangalore, to seven Toyota plants across the world.
Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts, the joint venture between Toyota and Kirloskar, had invested Rs 380 crore (Rs 3.8 billion) in the export-oriented unit at Bidadi on the outskirts of the city, with an annual capacity of 160,000 units per annum.
Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Karnataka Chief Minister Dharam Singh inaugurated the plant, which is billed as India's first plant for complete manufacture of automobile transmission (gearbox) for export.
Toyota Motor senior managing director Akio Toyoda said the Japanese major had chosen to source from India due to its competitive cost of manufacture, availability of engineering talent, strong indigenous machine tool and tooling industry.
"The reliable tier two and tier three component supplies and the proven track record of the Toyota joint ventures in
India has the potential to become a global competitor among the top tier one suppliers," he said.
TKAP, which commenced production in May 2004, has a total employee strength of 700.
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