On Saturday Toyota do Brasil will start selling the Corolla-based Fielder station wagon in Brazil. The model is made in the company’s Indaiatuba plant, in São Paulo state, where the Corolla sedan has been built since 1998.
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Toyota has invested $US15 million in Indaiatuba to make the Brazilian Fielder.
This latest Fielder is different from the model sold in Europe and Japan. The rear end is the same but the nose is from the Brazilian Corolla sedan which has the same ‘face’ as the American Corolla.
The Brazilian Fielder has a 136bhp 1.8-litre 16-valve engine and is offered with manual or automatic transmission. Toyota expects that 70% of the cars sold in Brazil will be automatic (the same proportion for the sedan).
The new model has local content of about 70% but the engine is imported from Japan.
Toyota do Brasil plans to produce about 4,700 Fielders in 2004 and 8,000 units next year. The new station wagon will be sold in Brazil and exported to other Latin American countries.
The launch of the Fielder signals the start of Toyota plans to increase market share in Brazil. The company’s objective is to have 10% by 2010 after reaching 3.1% in 2003.
“To reach our objective we will introduce other models in Brazil. Next year we will start building models of the IMV Project in Argentina, that also will be important for Brazil,” said Luiz Carlos Andrade Junior, Toyota Mercosur’s vice-president.
The IMV Project is a new range of pickups and SUVs that will replace the Hilux range. Toyota is also planning to make a compact car in Brazil but has not yet confirmed which model it will be.
“We are evaluating new projects for Brazil, but we have not yet decided anything”, added Andrade.
In the first quarter of 2004, Toyota sold 10,445 vehicles in Brazil, an increase of 35.3% compared with the 7,715 units sold in the same period of the last year.
Rogerio Louro
