Toyota plans to make India a manufacturing hub for electric vehicle parts to meet demand there as well as for export to Japan and some ASEAN countries, as per a senior company executive.
As Toyota plans to start by producing e-drives or electric powertrain parts use by different electric vehicle types, including battery EVs, plug-in hybrids and other hybrid models, Vikram Gulati, executive vice president at Toyota Kirloskar Motor said.
Vikram Gulati Said :
“The aspiration is to make India the manufacturing hub for cleaner technologies. This is about creating the building blocks,”.
Vikram Gulati did not name the countries in ASEAN, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, that Toyota would export to.
The move follows the company’s recent announcement that Toyota will invest Rs. 4,800 crore in India to localise the supply chain for EVs, and is also part of its broader 2050 carbon-neutrality goals.
It also comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is offering companies billions of dollars in incentives to build EVs and their parts locally.
The bulk of the investment in India will be made by Toyota’s local unit, Toyota Kirloskar Motor and Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts (TKAP), a joint venture of Toyota Motor, Aisin Seiki and Kirloskar Systems, the company said on Saturday.
The world’s biggest carmaker said in December it plans to invest $70 billion (approx. Rs. 5,42,295 crore) to electrify its automobiles by 2030, including developing battery EVs as it plays catch-up with global automakers investing billions of dollars in the shift to cleaner vehicles.
In India Toyota is more focus on launching its hybrid models first, which it believes are better suite to the country’s aim of reducing dependence on fossil fuels and carbon emissions.
Vikram Gulati said this would also address varying consumer needs and enable “a faster transition towards an electrified future”.
Building out the supply chain early will help Toyota become competitive in terms of volume and price in India, Gulati said.
Vikram Gulati said Toyota expects this to enable a “faster and smoother” shift for the Indian auto industry to electric-vehicle technology.
