Suzuki Motor Corporation will produce around 1.5 lakh cars a year at the Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd. facility in Bidadi by 2022. This is part of a recent collaboration between two of the leading Japanese car manufacturers Suzuki Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation, said Takayuki Kitagawa, consul-general, Consulate-General of Japan, Bengaluru.
“The Toyota facility in Bidadi has a capacity to produce three lakh vehicles a year, but the company is only producing 1.5 lakh. Suzuki will make use of the idle capacity,” Mr. Kitagawa told The Hindu on Friday, adding this would be a major boost for the manufacturing sector in the city, bringing with it an eco-system of other companies like suppliers.
Over 22 suppliers for Toyota Motor Corporation have a base in Bengaluru. The auto ecosystem is set to get a boost once Suzuki starts production, as it will bring several of its Japanese suppliers to the State, he said.
Slow progress on township
Mr. Kitagawa expressed concern over the slow progress of the Japan Industrial Township in Tumakuru, which he described as the best base for the new Japanese firms to set up shop. “The township was scheduled to be completed years ago. But there have been problems over land acquisition. There are issues over power and water infrastructure as well,” he lamented.
It is up to the government to take this opportunity and facilitate Japanese private investment in manufacturing in the State, he said appealing for fast-tracking the township project.
‘Traffic is a problem’
Takayuki Kitagawa, consul-general, Consulate-General of Japan, Bengaluru, warned that traffic congestion in the city is a big hurdle for private Japanese investment, especially in the manufacturing sector.
“Further private investment will be difficult unless the traffic congestion problem is solved at the earliest,” he said.
As of 2017, 507 Japanese firms are operating in the State, a jump from 460 in 2016, most of them in the service sector.
The next big step in Karnataka-Japan relations will be a direct flight. “We hope that once Suzuki starts production and completion of the Tumakuru township, we will reach that stage,” he said.