Toyota postpones launch of Indian plant

A slump in local sales has prompted Toyota Motor Corp. to push back its plans to build a second factory in Bangalore, India from 2009 to 2010. The company was to spend ¥68 billion (US$740.68 million) in the construction of the plant, designed to have an annual capacity of 100,000 vehicles. The facility is set to make Corollas before producing a one-liter-class subcompact designed for emerging markets. However, despite low sales figures in India, Hiroshi Nakagawa, head of the local Toyota subsidiary, said the budget for the factory’s construction would not be changed. Toyota’s global sales and those of its subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Co. fell 4% year-on-year to 8.97 million units in 2008. The company’s sales in Japan dropped by 5% to 2.15 million units, while sales outside Japan declined by 4% to 6.81 million units. (January 20/29, 2009)