Toyota, Daihatsu to form compact car company for emerging markets

Toyota Motor Company and its fully-owned subsidiary Daihatsu recently announced that it will officially establish an internal company dedicated for compact vehicles for emerging markets on January 1, 2017.

The new internal company will be called the ‘Emerging-market Compact Car Company’ and will consist of three divisions namely, the Emerging-market Compact Car Product & Business Planning Division, the Emerging-market Compact Car Product Planning Division and the Emerging-market Compact Car Quality Planning Division.

The manufacturer said that the Emerging-market Compact Car Product & Business Planning Division, which is to span both Toyota and Daihatsu, will handle the overall planning for products and business operations as well as the overall strategy.

Daihatsu will be in charge of the product development for emerging-market compact cars; while the new internal company's Emerging-market Compact Car Product Planning Division and Emerging-market Compact Car Quality Planning Division will be responsible for the final product development and quality of Toyota-brand vehicles.

With the establishment of the new company, Toyota Motor Asia Pacific Engineering and Manufacturing (TMAP-EM), will now be renamed as Toyota Daihatsu Engineering and Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TDEM) and will become an entity under the new internal company.

Toyota managing officer Shinya Kotera will be the president of the new internal company, while Masanori Mitsui, Daihatsu president takes the role of chairman.