Toyota and Suzuki, the two Japanese firms on Thursday announced that they would be producing four-wheelers for each other. The one of a kind partnership would exclusively be focussed upon Indian market, which is the world's fifth-largest passenger car market.
With acquiring largest stake in Maruti India, Suzuki is already ruling the Indian four-wheeler market space, while Toyota has been struggling for its share from quite a long time.
In February 2017, Toyota and Suzuki had concluded a memorandum towards business partnership and since then, they have been exploring concrete projects for collaboration in areas including environmental technology, safety technology, information technology, and the mutual supply of products and components.
Below we have listed all your queries related to the newly formed partnership.
Will Toyota cars come with Suzuki tag now?
To answer that question, yes, under the deal, vehicles made by Suzuki will be rebranded and renamed as Toyota cars, while the Toyota vehicles will sport the Suzuki badge.
What are the deal details?
The manufacturing will go on floor in middle of the 2019. The Nikkei business daily reported that Toyota would supply around 10,000 vehicles to Suzuki, while Suzuki would produce up to 50,000 units annually for Toyota.
As per the agreement, Suzuki will supply premium hatchback Baleno and compact SUV Vitara Brezza to Toyota, while Toyota will supply sedan Corolla to Suzuki.
"Details on each model, such as the schedule of the start of supply, number of supplied units, vehicle specifications, and supply pricing, will be considered at a later stage," the two companies said in a joint statement
How will it benefit the two companies?
The deepening partnership between the two automakers will enable Suzuki to tap into Toyota's R&D firepower to develop lower-emission vehicles and self-driving cars - areas which Suzuki has admitted it is struggling to keep up with.
Where the two firms stand currently?
As mentioned above, Suzuki is ruling the Indian market, while its fellow Japanese firm has been struggling.
Suzuki has dominated the Indian automobile market through a majority stake in Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the country's largest automaker, which sold roughly 1.6 million vehicles last year, accounting for every other car sold in the country. Producing 50,000 vehicles for Toyota would represent just a sliver of what Suzuki sold in India in 2017.
Toyota lags far behind with a roughly 5 percent market share. An additional 50,000 units could push Toyota's annual sales above those of Honda Motor and Tata Motors, but it will still lag far behind the top three manufacturers - Suzuki, Hyundai Motor Co and Mahindra & Mahindra.
Last year, Toyota sold roughly 140,000 cars in India, leaving its two plants in the country to operate at about half their capacity of manufacturing more than 300,000 vehicles a year.
Toyota has produced cars specifically for the Indian market for 20 years, but sales have been dented by poor demand of its last two no-frills models made specifically for India, the Etios sedan and the Liva hatchback, which were criticised for compromising on quality and finish to keep costs low.
How will it benefit customers?
The customers will get to expierence the best of both the worlds. Also, it is to be noted that not just the regular cars,
the two companies plan to introduce electric cars in India around 2020.
(With inputs from agencies)
