Toyota is planning for a local assembly of Toyota Etios in Indonesia at their upcoming manufacturing plant.
The Toyota group has previously announced that it will make Indonesia a production hub. According to Indonesia's Trade Minister Mr. Gita Wirjawan, Toyota is expected to export cars from Indonesia to ASEAN and African countries and also to Australia.
Mr. Johnny Darmawan, President and Director of PT Toyota-Astra Motor said that the new manufacturing facility will be funded by six group companies namely Toyota Motor Corporation, Daihatsu Motor Co. Ltd., Denso Corp., Toyota Auto Body Co. Ltd., Toyota Tsusho Corporation and Aisin Seiki Co Ltd.
Indonesia will become the third country to manufacture the Etios after India and Brazil. Currently, the cars to South Africa are being exported from India. The Indonesian operations is expected to get it's CKD kits from India similar to the way Suzuki in Indonesia receives the Ertiga in boxes.
The hatchback which is expected t0 shed its Liva badge for Indonesia will be powered by the same 1.2 litre three cylinder petrol engine which powers the Indian Etios Liva. The petrol motor puts out 80 PS of power and is mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. Toyota was caught road testing the Etios in Indonesia a few months ago that fueled speculations of local production.
The Etios hatchback will be competing with other city cars like the Honda Brio and Nissan March (Micra in India) which are selling well in Indonesia. At an estimated price of around Rp. 150 million (around Rs. 8.53 lakhs) for the high end variant, the Etios hatchback is expected to undercut Honda Brio whose top-of-the-line model retails at Rp. 170 million (around Rs. 9.67 lakhs).
[Source: Otosia.com]
