Toyota and Suzuki said on Friday that they will deepen their collaboration in the fields of development and production in India.
The two companies will begin production of a new SUV developed by Suzuki at Toyota Kirloskar Motor TKM in August this year, they said in a joint statement.
Suzuki's Indian arm, Maruti Suzuki India LtdSuzuki India Ltd and TKM, will market the new model in India as Suzuki and Toyota models, it added.
The statement said that the two companies are planning to export the new model to markets outside India, including Africa.
According to Toyota President Akio Toyoda, We are pleased to announce the new SUV with Suzuki, a company that has a long history of local involvement in the Indian business. He said that the automotive industry is facing various challenges, such as electrification and carbon neutrality.
Suzuki President Toshihiro Suzuki said that the new SUV production at TKM is a project that can contribute to the growth of India by providing eco-friendly mobility needed by customers.
He said that it is a big milestone towards further deepening our collaboration in the future. We appreciate the support from Toyota, and will explore new synergy and business opportunities through continuous collaboration. The collaboration will allow both Toyota and Suzuki to provide a wide variety of vehicle electrification technologies to customers and contribute to the acceleration of electrification and the realization of a carbon-neutral society in India, they said.
Toyota and Suzuki said they will continue to commit to the achievement of the Make in India'' initiative promoted by the Indian government and contribute to sustainable economic growth and to the vision of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2070, including investment in expansion of collaboration in India.
In 2017, Toyota Motor Corporation and Suzuki Motor Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding for a business alliance.
The two companies have been bringing together Toyota's strength in electrification technologies and Suzuki's strength in technologies for compact vehicles for joint collaboration in production and the widespread popularization of electrified vehicles since then, they said.
At present, TKM is selling Suzuki's premium hatchback Baleno as Glanza and compact SUV Brezza as Urban Cruiser in India.