Toyota to export Etios to South Africa

After Mahindra, Tata and Ford the Japanese giant car maker Toyota will commence exporting cars to South Africa. Toyota Kirloskar Motor announced the start of exports of its “World First, India First”- Toyota Etios & Etios Liva to South Africa. The company plans to begin export by March 2012.

The models for export will be based on the Etios platform currently sold in India, but will be developed and produced to fit the lifestyles, consumer preferences, climate, road conditions in South Africa.

“We are looking at exporting 20,000 units of the Etios series annually,” Hiroshi Nakagawa, Managing Director of TKM, a joint venture between Toyota Motor Corporation and the Kirloskar Group, said at a function here.

Localisation of Etios is at 70 per cent and may go up to 90 per cent once the company’s new plant and a transmission facility in Bangalore come up next year.

Toyota will launch the facelifted Innova and Fortuner at the 2012 Auto Expo.

Toyota Racing Development, the motorsport arm of Toyota has announced its plans to enter the Indian motorsport scene with a one-make series. Due to begin in mid-2012, the one-make road racing series that will possibly span the three racing tracks of the Buddh International Circuit, Coimbatore and Chennai race tracks, it will most likely mirror a sort of touring car championship series. Toyota Kirloskar will provide the cars and engines for this one-make series.