Japan's Toyota Motor to produce 'entry family cars' at plant in Brazil

TOKYO, Jan. 6, 2008 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- Japanese car maker Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM) Corp plans to produce what it calls 'entry family cars' at its second plant in Brazil in order to expand its market share in that country, the Nikkei reported on Sunday, without citing sources.

The company is now developing the vehicle, which it aims to sell for 800,000 to 900,000 yen, making it the least expensive of all Toyota models, the business daily said.

Toyota's factory in the state of Sao Paulo builds only about 60,000 vehicles a year and the carmaker's market share is a mere 3 percent, it said.

The company aims to use the entry family car as a way to develop the local market by attracting people who are buying their first automobile, the report said.

The Japanese automaker also plans to produce and sell entry family cars in India as early as 2010 and intends to launch production in China and Russia, it said.

Behind Toyota's focus on entry family cars is an expectation that its main source of overseas profit will shift to emerging markets from North America, the Nikkei said.

For the six months to September, operating profit margin from its North American operations declined 0.6 percentage point to 5.2 percent, while it rose 2.3 points to 7.2 percent for regions other than Japan, the US and Europe, it said.