Toyota puts fresh investments in India on hold; new Fortuner launch at stake

Toyota, one of the worst affected car-makers by the ban on the registration of diesel cars over 2000cc in Delhi and subsequent NGT orders in the country, has decided to hold all fresh investment in the country.

The company is undertaking a review of the current status quo of the industry on the backdrop of claims that diesel cars are the major source of pollution in the country. The Japanese car-maker i9s is also planning to hold the launch of some of its future cars in the country.

"There is erosion of confidence in India... We are halting new investments, most definitely," Shekar Viswanathan, vice-chairman and director at Toyota Kirloskar Motor, told the Times of India. "We will bring in some products that were planned, but fresh proposals will be on ice for a while... We will rework product plans, at least till 2020. Some of the products that we had planned to introduce will be re-thought," Viswanathan added.

The company in June opened diesel engine manufacturing plant near Bengaluru with an investment of Rs 1,100 crore. The plant manufactures powerful and high performance Global Diesel (GD) engines and only 30 percent of the total plant capacity is currently used. "I do not know what to do with this excess capacity. We cannot live with the betrayal of faith. When I go to the Toyota headquarters in Japan for the next project, it is very hard to explain," Viswanathan said.

Viswanathan's words also indicate that the launch of the next big vehicle from TKM, the new Fortuner SUV, is at stake. The latest version of the Fortuner was unveiled last year in many global markets and its India launch has been touted in the beginning of the next year. As the SUV features an engine over 2000cc, the Fortuner cannot be registered in Delhi NCR now.