Toyota Motor Corp. and Daihatsu Motor Co. jointly launched two different cars in Indonesia on Tuesday, a day after Toyota acquired all of Daihatsu’s shares.
“It is a new relationship between Daihatsu and Toyota,” Daihatsu President Masanori Mitsui said during the launch in the industrial town of Karawang in West Java Province, where the cars are manufactured.
Toyota launched the Calya, which means “perfect” in Sanskrit and will be sold at between $9,973 and $11,538, while Daihatsu launched the Sigra, which means “fast response” in the same language and will sell at between $8,153 and $11,461.
The two companies earlier collaborated in producing the Avanza and Xenia in 2003, the Rush and Terios in 2006, and the Agya and Ayla in 2013.
According to Mitsui, they have reached a huge achievement in production resulting from their cooperation.
Toyota Managing Director Hiroyuki Fukui shared that view and said the collaboration will improve the companies’ performance amid tough global competition.
The Calya and Sigra are multipurpose vehicles, which each can carry seven passengers. They are categorized into low-cost green car, a type of car highly encouraged by the Indonesian government.
“Those kinds of cars in great demand, so we’re hoping for a positive response (from the market),” said Sudirman Maman Rusdi, president of PT Astra Daihatsu Motor, an Indonesian subsidiary of Toyota.
According to him, his company has invested about 1.1 trillion rupiah (about $84.61 million) for the two cars’ production.
