Toyota looking at smaller and affordable cars for India – under INR 10 lakhs

There were reports that Toyota has been working on a sub 10-lakh SUV and hatchback for the Indian car market. The product is still in planning and this will be sold under the Daihatsu brand. Toyota now owns the affordable car brand and had made it clear to utilise it wherever it is a must.

The Daihatsu brand is looking for an entry in India and this will be achieved only when it has a very highly localised car for India. 

To be successful, the cars have to be highly affordable. For this purpose, these new vehicles shall have high levels of localisation and even good quantity as well.

So, the brand will even have to open its doors for exporting from India. This is the only way it will achieve high numbers. At the moment, Daihatsu is looking at making an entry into India and it doesn’t even have a dealership network. So, it will have to consider exporting or parts sharing as well. The Toyota brand did try to get affordable cars to India with the Etios family, and it didn’t do as well it was expected. In fact, it has dented the company’s image if not helped. So, Toyota is distancing itself from this and it will get a new brand to India.

Daihatsu, Toyota and Lexus all of them are a part of the same group and will operate in a similar fashion in India as well. But there shall be a different management, different dealers and each shall be targeting segments that do not cross each other. Lexus will be the flagship and luxury brand, Toyota is the more affordable and quality product brand. While the Daihatsu shall be looking at affordability and providing the best value for money products in the Indian car market.