Toyota Motor on Thursday said it will launch the Innova minivan in India in early March, aiming to boost its share of the expanding new vehicle market in the country.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Kyodo News said the automaker started production of the model at its plant in Bangalore, India, on February 15, with an initial monthly sales target of 4,500 units.
With the launch of the model, Toyota aims to boost its sales in India, where sales of vehicles rose about 25% in 2004 from the previous year to 1.36 million units. Currently, Toyota holds only a 3.5% share of the Indian market.
Kyodo News noted the Innova is one of five newly developed vehicles under the automaker’s Innovative International Multipurpose Vehicle Project for sales in emerging markets.
Under the IMV Project, Toyota produces a large number of popular models only overseas for sale in emerging markets in Asia and Africa in a bid to boost sales in such countries and cut costs. Toyota plans to start vehicle production in South Africa and Argentina in the near future.
India became the fourth IMV production base after Toyota began production of IMV Project models in Thailand and Indonesia in 2004 and the Philippines in February, Kyodo News said.
