Toyota and Daihatsu tackle emerging markets

Toyota and Daihatsu have announced that following their merger, the new company will create a budget brand specifically for emerging markets.

The company which will be named the “Emerging-market Compact Car Company”, will only be internal, so the two brands will not be spinning off a separate budget brand as per Dacia and Renault.

The new range of small cheaper cars will be marketed under the Daihatsu brand.

The company will initially target only Asian emerging markets such as Indonesia and Thailand whilst those further afield will not be targeted in the short term. Toyota’s operations across mature markets such as the UK, USA and Japan will remain as they are.

Daihatsu’s models will benefit from Toyota’s global TNGA platform. We can expect to see the first new cars to be made under the scheme within a few years.

Daihatsu president Masanori Mitsui will chair the internal brand whilst Toyota’s managing officer Shinya Kotera will be the company’s president. Responsibility for product and quality planning will reside with Daihatsu, while the product and business planning division will be shared by the two firms.

This is the first announcement concerning Daihatsu since its acquisition by Toyota was confirmed earlier in 2016. Toyota said “The new internal company’s objective is to establish work processes untethered by conventional practices and rules and to introduce competitive ever-better cars based on Daihatsu’s approach to manufacturing affordable, high-quality products.”