FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A top official at Toyota Motor Corp said on Monday that he sees 40,000 units a year as an appropriate level of initial production at the automaker's Russian factory, which is due to begin operations in December.
Japan's top automaker is planning to initially produce 20,000 Camrys at the St. Petersburg plant, gradually ramping up to 50,000 units a year.
"Twenty thousand is a bit low," Tokuichi Uranishi, the executive vice president of overseas operations, told Reuters ahead of the Frankfurt auto show. "I think we could easily build and sell 40,000 units."
Uranishi said that increasing production beyond 50,000 units might be a challenge because that plant will produce just one model.
He added that he wanted to bring an ultra low cost car under development to Russia as soon as possible, adding that move would give a big boost to sales volumes in Russia.
Toyota is developing the very low cost car that it intends to sell in emerging markets like India and Russia.
Asked where the car might first be produced, Uranishi said "That hasn't been decided, but eventually it would have to be built in all the major markets that it would be sold in," referring to the BRIC market -- comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China.
