Customers waiting for the deliveries of their Toyota Innova Hycross, Hyryder or Fortuner are in for some good news. Toyota India is expected to expand its manufacturing plant output by a minimum of 20-30 percent.
In FY2023, the company produced about 1.66 lakh vehicles, and this number is likely to nearly double to around 3.2 lakh units in the current financial year, making it the highest ever output for Toyota Kirloskar Motor. It will also help in facilitating faster deliveries, thus resulting in shorter waiting periods.
- Toyota has a large order backlog of over 1,20,000 units
- Innova Hycross, Crysta combined has around 70,000 bookings
- Third shift to start at Bidadi plant from early next month
Toyota India's current order backlog
Our sister publication Autocar Professional has learnt that Toyota India currently has over 1,20,000 units yet to be delivered – its highest ever to date since its market entry in India more than two decades ago.
Starting from the first week of May, Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM) will be adding a third shift at its Bidadi factory on the outskirts of Bengaluru. This will help increase its Innova, Fortuner and Hycross production capacity from 380 units per day to 510 units, and augment its cumulative capacity in India from 3,20,000 to 4,00,000 units per annum, according to people in the know.
With the waiting period ranging from three months to 18 months for some Toyota SUVs, the company was recently compelled to halt bookings for the top-end variant of the Innova Hycross. The Innova Crysta production, too, was halted late last year and the model was reintroduced as diesel-only in February 2023.
TKM's move to expand production is taking place in the face of slowing growth as a result of sustained demand for all its models, with the Innova family (the Crysta and Hycross) cumulative bookings having exceeded over 60,000 to 70,000 units at the end of FY23.
Grand Vitara SUV made by Toyota has a strong order book too
The expansion in capacity is also necessitated by a strong order book of Maruti Suzuki’s Grand Vitara, which is being produced at the Bidadi factory along with the Toyota Hyryder. At the end of FY2023, Maruti Suzuki had a booking of 1,40,000 units for the midsize SUV, which has a waiting period of 3-6 months.
An email sent to Toyota Kirloskar Motor to confirm the production expansion did not elicit any response till the time of publishing this report.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor ended FY2023 with sales of 1,73,245 units and a passenger vehicle market share of 4.45 percent, which has moved up by 40 basis points. It was the sole Japanese brand to witness an increase in market share at a time when there is an increased acceptance for homegrown OEMs’ cars and SUVs from Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra.
Alliance with Suzuki helping Toyota cater to more segments
Thanks to its global alliance with Suzuki, Toyota has been able to expand the addressable market. Toyota has banked on Maruti’s model – Baleno – which is sold as the Glanza to address the Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh market. Toyota sold over 40,000 units of the Glanza hatchback in FY2023.
This year, TKM is likely to get two more models based on the Maruti Suzuki Fronx and Ertiga MPV, which will help further expand its vehicle portfolio while offering the Innova HyCross to Maruti Suzuki in return.
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