Toyota Kirloskar Motor has announced that production will commence at its Bidadi facility near Bengaluru from Tuesday May 26, 2020
As per guidelines issued by the Government of India, automobile manufacturing plants have been permitted to open in certain areas. Maruti Suzuki India Limited has commenced production operations at its Manesar plant from May 12 while Hyundai Motor India has resumed production at its Chennai plant.
Honda Cars India Limited had also temporarily suspending operations at both its manufacturing plants in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh and Tapukara in Rajasthan from 23rd March and begins to open now that lockdown rules have been relaxed.
Toyota Kirloskar Motors has also announced that production at its plant in Bidadi, Bengaluru will commence from tomorrow, 26th May 2020 albeit in a phased manner. This decision has been taken following orders from both Central and State Governments. Along with production facilities, the company’s 290 dealerships have also partially opened for business while 230 Toyota service centers also begin operations.
While commencing production, Toyota will ensure that the health and safety of their employees are maintained at all times. The number of employees will be kept to the minimum for a start with most of the office workers still following the work from home policy.
Toyota has issued a ‘Restart Manual’ ensure the safety of all premises and staff, dealerships and service centers. This manual will benefit both dealers and customers while ensuring complete adherence to safety and hygiene practices by adopting ‘Safety and Health First’ approach.
Toyota Motors has also announced that close to 75 percent of their suppliers have also received permission from the Government to commence production with the remaining will soon get consent to do so.
Toyota Kirloskar Motors has two plants in Bidadi in Karnataka wherein 6,500 employees work. The plants have annual production capacity of 3.10 lakh units. Currently, the cars produced are Innova Crysta and Fortuner for domestic market; Etios for export market. Glanza is produced by Suzuki at the company’s Gujarat plant.
Next launch planned by Toyota in India is that of the of Urban Cruiser compact SUV. It is a rebadged Maruti Brezza. Toyota Urban Cruiser is likely based on the Vxi or Zxi trim of the Brezza. The Toyota Urban Cruiser is expected to be priced in the range of Rs 8.5 lakhs to Rs 11.5 lakhs. Launch was expected earlier but the global pandemic and nationwide lockdown has delayed launch to sometime just ahead of the festive season, between August and October.
