Toyota Yaris launched, carmaker says Rupee will not impact launches

Toyota Kirloskar Motor has said that the general automotive market in India looks very good and that the rupee drop will not affect the product launch. "If there is a runaway depreciation of the rupee, it will only accelerate the process of indigenization, in any case, we have a long-term plan to locate it, although it depends on the model, it is 87% in the case of level one of the sedan Yaris and we can go up to 91-92% in the order of magnitude, we can never reach 100%, since there will be something that will always be imported and it's also good, "said Shekar Viswanathan, vice president and full-time director of Toyota Kirloskar Motor.

He said: The Etios sedan of the company currently has the highest level of indigenization at 90%. "We are not seeing a price increase, we will have to wait and see, this is a very dynamic situation in the way the rupee is behaving, just a month ago, everything seemed to be fine and things have changed in the last few weeks. " He said that the fall of the rupee and the prices of crude oil heading north are a concern for all industries. "Unfortunately, these are not under the control of the auto industry as such and depend on global forces," Viswanathan said.

While most problems with taxes on goods and services (GST) are a thing of the past, Toyota Kirloskar Motor hopes to streamline the tax rate on hybrid cars. "Hybrids deserve a lower tax rate, what that rate is something we will leave to the government," Viswanathan said on the sidelines of the launch of the Toyota Yaris sedan in Mumbai last week.

"It is expected that about 1,000 Yaris sedans will be delivered in the coming days of the launch, and we are planning to ship more than 4,000 Yaris sedans to the entire country by the end of May," said Viswanathan, adding that while Toyota Kirloskar has a Market share of 5-6% in volume, is significantly higher in terms of value.

RK Ramesh, general manager of Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said the company is working on producing two months of customer orders and an annual production of 30,000 to 40,000 cars in the first year.

(By Ashish K Tiwari, DNA)