Toyota says Bangalore.out Eyes other states for 2nd plant

Toyota says Bangalore.out Eyes other states for 2nd plant
The Times of India

Tokyo: You saw the infrastructure woes. Now see this: Karnataka’s showpiece auto investor, Toyota, is seriously thinking beyond Bangalore for its second plant for the small-car project. If Toyota walks out, Karnataka will lose a whopping investment of Rs 800 crore and the multiplier effect in the local economy.

“The infrastructure in the state has not developed the way we had expected it to. We have expressed our concern to the state government,’’ Toyota executives said.

The carmaker is in talks with several states to work out the sops and other modalities for this second plant. “We are very close to finalising our decision. Though we do have the option of expanding the current facility in Bidadi (near Bangalore) to set up the small car production lines, we are also actively looking at setting up a new venture altogether in a different state,” Toyota Motor Corp officials involved with the India project told The Times of India.

Toyota Motor Corp president Katsuaki Watanabe, when contacted, said the new project — which will mark Toyota’s third model roll-out in India — is still under development and a decision on the matter will be taken shortly. The firm will be involving its compact car making arm Daihatsu in the new venture. “The equity sharing details are yet to be worked out and we are planning to use one of the existing platform from our stables to develop this new model specially for India,” an official said.

“I cannot fix a timeframe on the third model project but this venture will surely mark our entry into the volume car business in India,” Watanabe said.