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New Delhi: Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), the Indian subsidiary of Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp., is addressing supply chain challenges to resume bookings for premium models of its hybrid multi-purpose vehicle Innova Hycross, amid exorbitant waiting periods of up to 18 months for the top two models introduced in December.
New Delhi: Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), the Indian subsidiary of Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp., is addressing supply chain challenges to resume bookings for premium models of its hybrid multi-purpose vehicle Innova Hycross, amid exorbitant waiting periods of up to 18 months for the top two models introduced in December.
In July, Maruti Suzuki is set to unveil its own version of the Innova Hycross, produced by Toyota at its Bidadi manufacturing unit, furthering their global alliance in India, with a diverse lineup of hybrid vehicles. Under this arrangement, Toyota offers powerful hybrid technology, while Suzuki contributes with mild hybrid tech.
In July, Maruti Suzuki is set to unveil its own version of the Innova Hycross, produced by Toyota at its Bidadi manufacturing unit, furthering their global alliance in India, with a diverse lineup of hybrid vehicles. Under this arrangement, Toyota offers powerful hybrid technology, while Suzuki contributes with mild hybrid tech.
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Although TKM has no immediate plan to reopen bookings for ZX and ZX (O) variants of the Hycross, a senior company official said production is up nearly 33% at its Bidadi factory in Karnataka, where it produces all versions of MPVs Innova & Fortuner.
Despite adding capacity for 30,000 units to the existing 100,000 units of the two models, TKM faces persistent waiting periods for strong hybrid vehicles, such as the Hycross and Urban Cruiser Hyryder, said dealers Mint spoke with.
While availability of top trims has slightly improved, the supply of lower-end models has suffered, keeping the order backlog unchanged. The Innova brand, comprising the Crysta and Hycross, has a 35% share in the company’s overall sales in India. Bookings for Innova Hycross’ highest variants were suspended in early April. Toyota recorded its highest domestic wholesales of the past decade in FY23 to 174,000 units, up 41% over FY22. Besides, in May, TKM clocked its highest-ever retail volumes of 20,410 units in a month.
Toyota’s alliance with Suzuki has reached a critical phase in India, with both companies collaborating on developing and producing self-charging strong hybrid technologies for various models. TKM produces the Grand Vitara hybrid for Suzuki (Hyryder), and Suzuki makes the Glanza hatchback (re-badged Baleno) for Toyota Kirloskar. TKM will also manufacture the Innova-based 7- seater MPV that Maruti Suzuki plans to launch in the Indian market. The two firms have seen initial success with their self-charging strong hybrids for Toyota, and smart or mild hybrids with Maruti Suzuki.
“Suzuki is known for small and mid-sized PVs, and manufacturing competitiveness. We have an entire range of electrified tech to give customers more fuel efficient vehicles,” said Atul Sood, vice president, sales and strategic marketing, Toyota Kirloskar Motor.
“That’s a strong endeavour and commitment we have for the Indian market through this collaboration, while we also work mass localization of electrified components moving forward. So that’s the key objective,” Sood added.
“We had supply related changes which led us to temporary halt bookings for top two grades, we are working towards resolving so we can work towards restoration in due course of time. We are working towards resolving supply-related issues for these two trims. With the Hycross we see orders for the strong hybrid variants account for bookings in excess of 80% for the Innova HyCross, and about 70% for the Hyryder cumulative what we have sold till now. However, the new grades, the gasoline one for Hyryder, the traction has been improving even for that variant. And the gasoline grade for HyCross is also seeing good take off. If daily usage is not very high, customers are finding a lot of value in the gasoline variants too. However, we do expect self-charging strong hybrids to continue to form a majority of our sales”, Sood told Mint.
“Demand for us has been robust across models. But we are also getting indications of a global economic slowdown and the geopolitical tensions going on which could have an impact on supply chains and increase in material costs, but we continue to monitor this on a regular basis. We will observe the market very closely, with respect to impact of rate changes etc. But till date, considering our pending pipeline, we are definitely optimistic about our growth this year”, Sood added.
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