Toyota Kirloskar Motor will add annual production capacity of one lakh vehicles at a third plant in Bidadi, Karnataka, as the company prepares to reduce waiting periods and meet demand for models including the Innova HyCross. The expansion is expected to begin ramping up from early next year, according to Sabari Manohar, Executive Vice-President for Sales, Service and Used Car Business at Toyota Kirloskar Motor.
The additional capacity will come at the upcoming third plant in Bidadi. Toyota currently operates two plants at the Karnataka manufacturing location, with a combined annual production capacity of 3.42 lakh units. The company has not specified in the supplied report the investment value or the exact production start date for the new facility.
Manohar said demand from both urban and rural markets was supporting showroom footfalls during the ongoing festive period. “This quarter is going to be really good because of the festive and momentum what we have, and then we are carefully monitoring any other impact that is happening because of the global unrest. We also feel the first-quarter of the next year also should be positive,” he told BusinessLine on the sidelines of the launch of the facelifted Glanza.
He said it was too early to determine whether sales growth would remain in single or double digits, while adding that the company’s aim was to enable more customers to experience the Toyota brand. The company’s domestic wholesales, or dispatches to dealers, rose 9 per cent year-on-year during January-September to 2,69,619 units from 2,47,081 units in the same period last year.
The production expansion is tied directly to Toyota’s effort to address waiting periods for certain vehicles and support the introduction of newer products. The third Bidadi plant will have capacity for different models, including the Innova HyCross. The company’s existing manufacturing base in Karnataka therefore remains central to its near-term supply plans.
Toyota is also setting up another plant in the Bidkin Industrial Area of Maharashtra. That facility is expected to have annual capacity of one lakh units and is scheduled to come up by the first half of 2029. Together, the Bidadi and Maharashtra projects indicate a planned increase in the company’s manufacturing footprint, although the supplied report does not provide a combined investment figure or details of employment generation.
The capacity announcement came alongside Toyota’s launch of the facelifted Glanza, priced from Rs 7 lakh ex-showroom. The model is powered by a new-generation 1.2-litre, three-cylinder Z12E petrol engine producing 61 kW of power and 112.4 Nm of torque. Toyota has also introduced a CNG powertrain producing 51.3 kW and 101.8 Nm, with an automated manual transmission available on CNG variants.
The company said the manual-transmission version delivers fuel efficiency of 23.80 km per litre, while the automated manual transmission variant delivers 24.77 km per litre. Toyota’s next stated manufacturing milestone is the planned ramp-up of the additional Bidadi capacity from early next year, followed by the expected completion of the Bidkin plant in the first half of 2029.
