Toyota India sees flat sales this fiscal

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited (TKML), the Indian subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corp, does not see rebound in passenger car sales before the second half of next fiscal.

The company's domestic car sales would be below last year's levels, a top company official said.

"We are hopeful of maintaining our last year's production levels and sell as many cars as last year mainly with the help of exports. This year, our domestic sales will be lower than last year's, but we are exporting more than last year," said Vikram Kirloskar, vice chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motor.

During 2012-13, TKML sold around 190,000 passenger cars, 61 per cent of its installed capacity of 310,000 units per annum at its Bidadi plant near Bangalore.

In the first eight months of the current fiscal ended November, it sold 88,947 cars, a decline of 17.56 per cent over the same period last fiscal.

"Compared to our installed capacity, we have reduced our production volume and shifts to adjust to the demand. We are now offering additional training to our workforce and conduct maintenance of the plant," Kirloskar told Business Standard.

The Kirloskar group holds 11 per cent stake in TKML, while Toyota holds the remaining 89 per cent.

Toyota Kirloskar, earlier this year, had experimented with production holidays up to eight days a month and resorted to one shift operation in October at both its manufacturing plants at Bidadi to adjust to the piling inventory at dealerships.

However, Kirloskar said the company would announce new models during the upcoming auto show at Delhi in January to improve its performance in the coming months.

He added there were no indicators for any immediate rebound in the sales for automobile industry.

"We don't see any great improvement in the remaining months of this year frankly," he said.