Toyota ramps up Innova Crysta production to cut waiting period

New Delhi: With an aim to reduce waiting period, Japanese auto major Toyota is ramping up production of its newly launched multi-purpose vehicle Innova Crysta in India to about 7,800 units a month to meet strong demand.

With half of the total bookings of around 30,000 units coming for automatic transmission variant, the company, which operates in India as a joint venture Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM)  with the Kirloskar group, has asked its supplier to enhance supply of the transmission.

"Since the launch of the Innova Crysta we have done up to 30,000 bookings, out of which 50 percent are for the automatic transmission variant. Currently, we have a waiting period of over three months," TKM Director and Senior Vice President (Sales & Marketing) N Raja told PTI.

When asked how is the company working to reduce the waiting period, he said: "We are increasing production. In May when we started we were producing around 6,000 units. In June, it went up to around 7,800 units. Going forward, depending on demand we expect to maintain that level."

Raja said considering demand for automatic transmission, TKM has asked its vendor to enhance supplies.

"We had planned for around 30-40 per cent of total demand of Innova Crysta to come for the automatic transmission but it is around 50-60 per cent at present, so we are working with our supplier to enhance its production," he added.

TKM had announced the launch of an all-new version of its popular multi-purpose vehicle Innova priced up to Rs 20.78 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai) in May but it hasn't been able to sell the vehicle in Delhi-NCR due to ban on registration of diesel car and SUVs with engine capacity of 2,000 cc and above imposed by the Supreme Court.

"Demand for the Innova Crysta has come from other parts of the market. Yes, sales could have been higher with Delhi-NCR," he added.

In June, the company sold 8,171 units of Innova Crysta, while in May it stood at around 6,600 units. TKM's overall sales in June stood at 13,502 units in the domestic market, up 29 per cent from the corresponding month last year.

On the outlook for the year, Raja said: "While the industry is poised for 7-9 per cent growth, we will be looking to maintain the same level as last year as we had a difficult time in the first six months of the current year."

TKM had sold a total of 1,39,819 units last year.

"Hopefully, the uncertainty over diesel will be resolved and with our other models like Etios also contributing, we expect our sales to pick up in the second half of the year," he added.