Toyota Motor Corp (TM, TYT.L) plans to introduce eight compact car models for the emerging markets by 2015, hoping to compete with General Motors Corp. (GM) and Volkswagen AG (VOW.BE, VLKAF.PK, VKW.L).
The company wants to turn its attention to growth markets like China, Brazil and India so that it can reduce its reliance on North America and Europe as well as its domestic market.
Toyota said today that it would increase vehicle production capacity from the current 210,000 units a year to 310,000 units a year in 2013 with emerging markets as a priority.
By 2015, the company plans to sell half of its vehicles in emerging markets, up from 45 percent last year. The compact cars that will be introduced will target annual sales of over 1 million vehicles in more than 100 countries.
These cars will be priced around 1 million yen or even higher. They will be produced in local markets. Toyota may procure the components locally to lower costs.
By 2013, Toyota expects to increase production capacity in emerging markets to 3.1 million units annually, from 2.38 million in 2010, matching that of Japan.
The Etios is Toyota's cheapest car. The series surpassed cumulative sales of 100,000 units in India this week, just one year and five months since it was launched in the country.
TM closed at $77.20 on Thursday, down from the prior close of $77.25, on 358,800 shares.
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