Toyota and Daihatsu to Create Small Car Company for Emerging Markets

Toyota and Daihatsu have announced that the two companies will create a new budget brand for emerging markets on 1^st January 2017. The company will be called as the “Emerging-market Compact Car Company.”

This is the first announcement concerning Daihatsu since the car maker was announced to have been acquired by Toyota earlier this year. Toyota said:

“The new internal company’s objective is to establish work processes untethered by conventional practices and rules and to introduce competitive ever-better cars based on Daihatsu’s approach to manufacturing affordable, high-quality products.”

The brand will deal with emerging Asian markets, while Toyota’s operations across mature markets such as the UK, USA and Japan will remain as they are. Wider emerging markets across the world will not be targeted by this move.

A Toyota spokesman confirmed that no new badge would be created from the deal, but the two companies would pool knowledge on small cars. He added that Daihatsu’s models would benefit from Toyota’s global TNGA platform. The first new cars to be made under the scheme will emerge within a few years.

Daihatsu will have responsibility for the initial product development of emerging-market compact cars, while the new internal company’s Emerging-market Compact Car Product Planning Division and Emerging-market Compact Car Quality Planning Division will be responsible for final product development and quality for Toyota-brand vehicles.

Also, Toyota Motor Corp has announced that Toyota Motor Asia Pacific Engineering and Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TMAP-EM) is to be renamed Toyota Daihatsu Engineering and Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TDEM), which will become an entity under Emerging-market Compact Car Company.

from Autocar