Toyota was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937 as a spinoff from his father's company Toyota Industries to create automobiles. Three years earlier, in 1934, while still a department of Toyota Industries, it created its first product, the Type A engine, and, in 1936, its first passenger car, the Toyota AA. Toyota is the seventh largest company in the world and the second largest manufacturer of automobiles, with production facilities in 28 nations around the world - and the highest-production facility of any non-domestic automaker in the United States.
The Kirloskar Group (consisting of Kirloskar Brothers Limited, Kirloskar Oil Engines, Kirloskar Ferrous Industries, Kirloskar Pneumatic Company, Kirloskar Ebara Pumps Ltd, Kirloskar Construction And Engineers Ltd, SPP Pumps (UK), Gondwana Engineers Ltd, Braybar Pumps Ltd (South Africa) and The Kolhapur Steels Ltd) is India's largest Engineering and Construction Conglomerate with sales exceeding $3.5 billion. The Kirloskar Group today exports to over 70 countries, especially within India and over most of Africa, South East Asia and Europe.
In October 1997, Toyota Kiloskar Motors (TKM) started as a joint venture between Kirloskar Group and Toyota Motor Corporation. Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) holds 89% of the share and Kirloskar Group owns the remaining 11%.
The company Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited (TKMPL) according to its mission statement aims to play a major role in the development of the automotive industry and the creation of employment opportunities, not only through its dealer network, but also through ancillary industries with a business philosophy of "Putting Customer First".
Toyota entered the Indian Markets with Qualis. The company then ventured into the mid-size segment with the Camry. The Toyota Camry is a series of mid-size (originally compact) automobiles manufactured by Toyota since 1980, and sold in the majority of automotive markets throughout the world.In the United States, the Camry has been regularly the best selling car for the last decade, but has been outsold in some years. The Camry also sells very well in Australia, Canada, and a number of Asian markets - in particular Cambodia where the vast majority of cars are Camrys. Due to their comfort-tuned suspensions, most models of the Camry are regarded as less sporty than rival vehicles, with the exception of sports-oriented versions. Despite its international success, it has not sold as well in Europe, where sales ended in 2004, and the Avensis became the flagship model in 2002.
The Corolla is a line of subcompact/compact cars manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota, which has become very popular throughout the world since the nameplate was first introduced in 1966. In 1997, the Toyota Corolla became the best selling nameplate in the world, with over 35 million sold as of 2007. Corollas are manufactured in Japan and in Brazil (Indaiatuba, São Paulo), Canada (Cambridge, Ontario), China (Tianjin), India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom (Derbyshire) and Venezuela.
The Innova is a Toyota designed MPV i.e. being less than 4,600 mm (181.1 in) in length as per the European system of size classification, produced in Indonesia under supervision by Toyota Astra Motor since 2003. As with Toyota Kijang, which it replaced, the Toyota Innova is produced and first marketed in 2004 in Indonesia. The Innova is part of Toyota's IMV program together with Hilux Vigo pickup truck and Fortuner SUV.
Powering the Innova is either 2.0 liter 136 hp (101 kW) 1TR-FE VVT-i, 2.7 liter 2TR-FE VVT-i gasoline, or 2.5 liter 102 hp (76 kW) 2KD-FTV D4-D common rail variable geometry turbocharger Diesel engine. Trim levels are J, E, G, and V. The 2.7 liter is only for V with automatic transmission. It features a live rear axle and it is of front engined rear wheel drive configuration. Newly added V variant in the Toyota Innova adds ABS, leather seats and captain chairs.
The Innova is also sold in India unlike some of the Innova's competition, such as the TATA Sumo Grande, the newly launched Tata Aria, Chevrolet Tavera or the Mahindra Xylo, the Innova looks more like a minivan - in fact, its styling can be said to be similar to Toyota's other MPV offerings, namely the USDM Toyota Sienna and the Toyota Previa. In addition the Innova was designed to be affordable and not expensive as the other MPVs in India.
The Toyota Fortuner is a medium-sized SUV based on the Toyota Hilux. Originally assembled only in Thailand, but later also in Indonesia, the Fortuner is built on the well-established platform of the Toyota Hilux pickup truck. It features three rows of seats and is available in rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive among others. The Fortuner is part of Toyota's IMV project in Thailand, which also includes the Toyota Hilux and the Innova(in Indonesia). The car was designed in Thailand by Thai and Japanese engineers. Trim levels are G and G Luxury for rear-wheel drive diesel and gasoline, and V for four-wheel drive Diesel and gasoline. The common rail turbo intercooled diesel has functional scoop on its hood.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited has a plant at Bangalore, Karnataka. The plant has a capacity of 80,000 vehicles per annum. TKMPL invested Rs 3,200 Crores in building a second manufacturing plant in Bangalore, Karnataka near its existing plant to manufacture its new car Etios as well as existing models. The new plant will have an initial capacity of 70,000 vehicles per annum which will be increased to 200,000 vehicles per annum depending upon the market demand.
