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Toyota bucks slowdown; posts higher sales

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd, the Bangalore-based joint venture between Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan and the Pune-based Kirloskar group, on Thursday claimed that it had bucked the impact of the economic slowdown in the country, and posted a 48 per cent growth till July this year.

"Unlike in the case of our rivals, Telco and Mahindras, which have reported negative growth during the first two quarters of this year, we have registered a growth rate of 48 per cent till July over the corresponding period of last year," declared company's marketing general manager Sandeep Singh in Bangalore.

The Rs 7-billion state-of-the-art manufacturing plant at Bidadi, located about 40 km from Bangalore, currently rolls out two versions of Qualis multi-purpose vehicle for the domestic market with an installed capacity of 40,000 units per annum.

In view of its competitive edge and several international features, Qualis has managed to capture about 40 per cent of the multi-utility vehicle market segment within two years of its launch in India. It has been averaging a sale of 2,500 vehicles per month. The company has sold 18,000 units so far this year.20

"We are targeting a total sales of about 36,000 units by this year as against 21,785 vehicles sold last year. We may even exceed the target as in the case of last year when we surpassed the target of 20,000 units set for the calendar year 2000," Singh asserted, adding that the vehicle found a greater acceptability in the semi-urban and rural areas across the country.

Having bucked the general automotive trend, Toyota is launching a young and sporty variant of Qualis next month to cash in on the upcoming festival demand. "The booking will open in the first week of September.

A limited festival edition of 400 vehicles will be rolling out of our plant till November-end," Singh disclosed.

Singh, however, admitted that sales in the hi-tech capital of India, Bangalore, had witnessed a zero growth during the last three months, though region-wise, south zone continued to post higher sales, followed by north and west.

Built to the basic theme of light sports model for highway cruising and designed to promote fun and enjoyment to attract younger customers, the vehicle will be priced around Rs 700,000.

"The new marketing strategy is based on the success of our first limited edition of Qualis, which was launched early this year on the successful completion of our first year of commercial operations in India. About 1,000 of that limited edition were sold out in a record time during the first quarter of this year," said marketing director Satoshi Aoki at the pre-launch briefing.

According to Seichi Nishikawa, director for product, design and development, plans are underway to launch a few variants of Qualis from next year onwards with high-end features, targeted at the up-market customers.

"We have commissioned a marketing study to get a feedback from our growing customer base across the country. The new models will have special features to suit the customers' specific needs and tastes in outer design and colors," Nishikawa stated.

The company is targeting a revenue turnover of Rs 160 million for the current year against Rs 90 million revenue posted at end of 2000.

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