Toyota may consider a price hike starting October

New Delhi: Japanese car giant Toyota today said it may have to increase the price of its range of products in India from October onwards if the depreciation of rupee continues, a senior company official said today.

The company, which is present in India through a joint venture with the Kirloskar Group, said it has to take into consideration factors like slide of rupee.

"If the rupee continues to slide like this then we may have to take a price increase from October onwards," Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) Deputy Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Marketing and Commercial, Sandeep Singh told reporters.

The company has effected a price increase of 1 per cent on Fortuner and Camry recently, he added.

Singh was speaking on the sidelines of the annual convention of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

Reacting to the recent Government initiatives to strengthen the rupee and market sentiment, Singh said: There is nothing happening on the ground. They are making announcements, but I think implementation is not happening."

Factors like rupee fluctuation, hardening of interest rates will not help the company sustain the volumes, so it does not see any big growth in the coming months, he added.

"We will see some upswing in the upcoming festival season. Normally there is a 20 per cent growth during the festival season but this year we are not looking at that," Singh said.

The automobile industry will be declining quite substantially this calender year, he added.

When asked if the company is planning to hold investment plans in the country, Singh said: "We are not holding our investment plans. We are a large corporate so we do not plan for 1-2 years. We normally look long-term."

Though there is a slowdown in many of the company's activities which were earlier planned. The company is certainly trying to revisit them. The big plans for motor racing have been scaled down, he added.

On being asked if the company is also looking at exports for growth, Singh said: "We will be exporting over 25,000 vehicles this year as compared to around 20,000 vehicles last year."

Over 90 per cent of the exports of the company comprise of Liva and Etios.

"We have sent a pilot batch to Indonesia which will be a new market to us. We have got orders for around 2,200 vehicles. We are focusing on exports. But opportunities even in the emerging markets are not good," Singh said.