Toyota Has No Plans for New India Plant

The remarks came after the respected Nihon Keizai business newspaper reported Japan's biggest automaker plans to spend up to 50 billion yen (US$413 million; euro317.52 million) on a new Indian factory, to be built near the company's first assembly plant in Bangalore.

The second plant would initially produce 100,000 entry-level, family-style vehicles priced at around 800,000 yen (US$6,610; euro5,080), making them the lowest-priced vehicles in Toyota's lineup, the paper reported Monday without saying how it got its information.

Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco said Toyota is always evaluating overseas expansion plans but that no decisions have been made regarding India, where its Bangalore plant produces about 44,500 vehicles a year.

"We don't have any concrete plans for a new plant in India," Nolasco said.

With auto sales slowing in developed markets like the United States and Japan, automakers are increasingly turning to developing areas like Brazil, China, Russia and India to ramp up production closer to growth markets.

To better penetrate those developing markets, Toyota is also considering a smaller, entry-level model, but details have also not yet been set, Nolasco said.

Toyota has only a 4 percent stake in the Indian auto market, the Nikkei said. Smaller Japanese rival Suzuki, by contrast, has locked up about half the market with its selection of small, fuel-efficient vehicles.

Toyota's current India plant produces Corollas and the minivan Innova for the domestic market.