Toyota is Gambling Big by Focusing on Quality Over Quantity

Toyota is planning to gamble big in India. In a country popular for smaller, no-frills cars, the Japanese carmaker wants to go for the premium side of things, with models offering safety and quality.

For the past two decades, Toyota has failed to displace rivals Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor in the Indian market, which together control around two-thirds of a market skewed towards cars costing less than $7,000. Which is why Toyota is now focusing and quality instead of quantity.

Having dual airbags as a standard feature for MPV’s like Innova will, according to the company, help boost Toyota’s 5 per cent share of the world’s sixth-largest auto market.

“We don’t want to … just introduce a price-competitive car,” Naomi Ishii, managing director Toyota Kirloskar Motor, told Reuters in an interview at the company’s India headquarters in Bengaluru.

All this means is that Toyota’s two new launches in the next three years will target wealthier middle-class audience who are looking for safety and quality over a good sound system. We already know that Toyota is planning to unveil the new Innova at the 2016 Auto Expo in February and will see a launch in the second half of the year.

It looks like Toyota is shifting its focus to premium segment ahead of introducing its mini car affiliate Daihatsu Motors. “As a brand, Toyota’s not expected to play in the lower segment, but it could have an offering from a different name,” said Kaushik Madhavan, automotive head at Frost & Sullivan.