Toyota and its fully owned subsidiary Daihatsu, plan to create an internal company in Januay 2017. It will be responsible for building compact vehicles for emerging markets.
While Daihatsu will be responsible for unified development, procurement and production preparation of compact vehicles for emerging markets based on "DNGA" (a Daihatsu vehicle architecture), Toyota will support their efforts by providing knowledge and resources. Toyota and Daihatsu will jointly formulate and share product and business plans, and also put their existing production bases to mutually effective use.
Explaining one of the benefits of this initiative Toyota Executive Vice President Shigeki Terashi said, "With the establishment of the internal company, Toyota intends to learn the very fundamentals of Daihatsu's competitiveness and change the way we work."
Daihatsu President Masanori Mitsui commented, "We will further advance our knowhow cultivated in the manufacturing of mini vehicles and be a Toyota Group driving force, not only for mini vehicles, but also for compact vehicles for emerging markets. For Daihatsu, this initiative represents an important opportunity for enormous and sustainable growth. Separately, both companies confirmed today that Daihatsu will continue to take the lead in the development of the Daihatsu brand."
So, do you think our market will eventually get to see these machines? Well, we’ll just have to wait it out for an official statement from Toyota. Stay tuned to CarWale!
