Toyota and Daihatsu have announced plans to create a fleet of new budget automobiles for emerging markets, with the inception of a new internal company that will be operational from the start of next year.
The new company will be known as the ‘Emerging-market Compact automobile Company’ internally, but this doesn’t imply a new sub-brand similar to Renault and its Dacia budget car arm will emerge. Instead, the new automobiles created by the collaborative effort will still be badged as Toyotas and Daihatsus. Both companies will prop each other’s efforts up, supporting the production of cars under both brands.
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In charge of the new company will be two executives – one from each respective brand. Daihatsu president Masanori Mitsui will be appointed chairman, while Toyota Managing officer Shinya Kotera will be the internal company’s president.
Daihatsu became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toyota in August in a deal said to be worth around $3 billion (£2.1 billion) and at the time the two firms hinted at using both brands’ proficiency to produce new small automobiles around the world.
At the time Toyota said that the relocation would help it to improve its small automobiles by having a unified technique in the sengment, though hinted the companies would keep their management structures and “engage in friendly competition”.
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Toyota president Akio Toyoda said the buyout is: “an opportunity for us both to stop feeling that we need to go it alone, and count on each other to take full advantage of our respective strengths. In other words, we can now focus on our core competencies. That, I believe, is the essential to achieving and sustaining global competitiveness. Daihatsu stopped selling automobiles in the UK in 2011.
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