Toyota to release new small cars for emerging markets

According to Reuters and the Japanese business newspaper Nikkei, Toyota will launch a new small car, designed and engineered specifically for the Chinese market, in China by 2013. The new car will be a little larger than the Etios sedan that is currently sold in India, and will have a 1.5-litre petrol engine.

Toyota will try to keep cost low for its new budget car, and the car will be heavily based on the Etios. The new car will be built in China at the rate of 200,000 cars per year, in a joint venture with Toyota’s Chinese partners, the China FAW Group and the Guangzhou Automobile Group. Toyota hopes that the new model will help increase its market share in China to above the current 5%.

As for other markets, Toyota plans to more than double the production of the Etios in India, from 80,000 currently, to 190,000 units by the end of 2013. Additionally, the Japanese carmaker plans to produce another budget car for the Brazilian market by the end of 2012, with a 70,000 annual production target, as well as producing even more low-priced cars in Indonesia.