The new small car will be a little larger than the low-cost Etios that is sold in India. A 1.5-liter gasoline engine will power it and prices are expected to begin from under 1 million yen (approximately US$12,853).
Toyota aims to keep the manufacturing costs of its new China-built small car as low as possible by using many parts from the Etios and is willing to spend some 40 billion yen for the local production of the model at a rate of 200,000 units per year.
The Japanese company wants to raise its 5% market share in the Chinese market by launching the new car with its two local joint ventures, China FAW Group and Guangzhou Automobile Group.
It also plans to more than double the production of the Etios in India, from the current number of 80,000 units to 190,000 by the end of 2013. In addition, it intends to produce another low-cost car in Brazil starting from the second half of 2012, at an annual rate of 70,000 units, as well as manufacturing low-priced cars in Indonesia.
