The car maestro from Japan, Toyota said it is carving its small car Etios [images] to be ready for launch in the early period of 2011. This will materialize once the second plant gets full swing action during this year end, said MD for Toyota Kirloskar Motor JV. The second plant is set up by Kirloskar at Bidadi in Bangalore at an investment of Rs1400 crore which will have the capacity of 100000 annual units. Toyota has made it clear that the engine for this Etios will be imported from Japan keeping the low volume in track here, he announced at the Global Investors’ meet in Bangalore.
Etios [images] in India will have both the hatchback (1.2 lit petrol engine)and sedan version of 1.5 lit petrol engine. Kirloskar is in a JV with Toyota and is dealing Innova [images] muv and Corolla [images] luxury sedan which is designed at its first plant which has the annual production capacity of 100000 units since 2008. However the Camry [images] in mid-segment and Prado [images] suv are directly imported from Japan as CKD units. These are assembled at the Bidadi plant for meeting the local needs. The second plant will have the manpower of 2000 personnel much in anticipation about the future volume- 70000 units of Etios during the initial year of production. In addition there will be an R&D centre in India for effecting the development and design of the ranges of cars for local and export markets.