The maker of Hycross and Innova Crysta models witnessed a surge in demand following its global alliance with Suzuki Motor Co. in 2020.
TKM anticipates 2023 to be its second consecutive year of record production and sales due to robust demand for its newly launched vehicles and buoyancy in the passenger vehicle market, said Vikram Gulati, country head and executive vice president of Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKMPL).
TKM’s dispatches to dealers in FY23 increased by 41% compared to the previous year, reaching 174,015 units.
An individual familiar with the company’s sales projection indicated that it plans to dispatch 220,000-230,000 units in the current fiscal year. This would mark TKM’s second consecutive year of double-digit growth. The Hyryder, its new compact SUV developed in collaboration with Maruti Suzuki, is expected to contribute significantly to the incremental volume.
During the first five months of 2023, the company sold 16,681 units of the Hyryder. However, due to capacity constraints, the monthly average was only 3,336 units. In comparison, Maruti Suzuki’s Grand Vitara sold an average of 10,000 units per month. “The first step is to fully utilize our existing capacities, second is to enhance efficiency at all the units, only then we will take a call on the third step,” Gulati said, referring to a possible plan for establishing a third plant. “We are confident that the capacities will be fully utilized sooner than later, much before 2025.”
The combined capacity of TKM’s plants at Bidadi, near Bengaluru, is 342,000 units per annum. To meet the growing demand for the Innova HyCross, the company introduced a third shift at its plant, thereby increasing the facility’s output by 32,000 units per annum to a total of 132,000 units per annum, which also produces the Crysta and Fortuner models.
The second plant, responsible for manufacturing the Hyryder, Camry, and Hilux models, has a production capacity of 210,000 units per annum.
“We are also working on optimizing and enhancing efficiency at this plant so that it can produce a higher volume,” said Gulati. Depending on the selected model variant, customers may have to wait anywhere from six to ten months for Toyota models.