Toyota Industries Engine India, who have a diesel engine plant in Bangalore is studying the potential of manufacturing smaller displacement diesel motors in India.
TIEI (Toyota Industries Engine India) currently manufactures the global diesel engines i.e the 2.8-litre and 2.4-litre mills at their Bangalore plant. These engines power the newly launched Innova Crysta in both manual and automatic variants. The 2.8-litre unit will also be deployed to power the upcoming Fortuner. It is also interesting to note that the 1.4-litre diesel engines for the Etios twins and Corolla Altis is imported from Japan.
A key personnel from Toyota confirmed the same. He further added that it would be better to build the engines in India but at the same time, a decision of setting up a manufacturing facility is very capital intensive and for the same, it is of prime importance to have market stability. He claimed that the parent company will study the scenario and discuss it with the concerned stakeholders and then take a call.
Speaking on manufacturing engines in India, he said that to achieve more cost competitiveness, an indigenisation strategy will be adopted in a step-by-step manner. The first step will be to reach a localisation level of 35 percent from the existing 20 percent. To do so, they are more inclined towards exploiting the advantages of the Indian supply chain but not at the cost of Toyota’s stringent quality standards.
On the other hand, one may think that Toyota, which has global presence can leverage the capacities of its other plants, as the idea of setting up a factory may not be all that sensible for the parent company. The diesel engine production plant has had an investment of Rs. 1100 crores with an estimated production capacity of 1,08,000 units. Toyota also has a petrol engine making facility in Bangalore where they make the 1.2-litre and 1.5-litre petrol engines for their Etios twins.
Toyota makes some of the most reliable engines and what the next move for the company is will be crucial to the entire industry as a new engine supplier might also emerge out-of-nowhere and take the competition to some of the rivals. The local manufacturing of smaller capacity diesel engines will surely benefit the company as well as customers, since prices of the cars using the oil burner will be revised accordingly.
Toyota 1.4-Litre Diesel Engine
– Toyota is considering manufacturing smaller displacement diesel engines in India
– At the moment, only the global diesel (i.e the 2.4 and 2.8-litre) engines are made in India
– The 2.8-litre engine will power the upcoming Fortuner
– Toyota imports the 1.4-litre diesel engines for Etios twins and Corolla Altis from Japan
– Toyota will study the current market scenario and then decide on further plans of diesel engines
Source – AutocarPro.in
