Toyota Rebadged Cars: Maruti Suzuki, one of the two major companies in the Indian automobile industry, has increased the pace of its exports. This is likely to have a direct impact on Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s expansion in India. Toyota’s current growth is mainly based on rebadged models from Maruti. However, now the supply of vehicles from Maruti to Toyota may be limited.
Maruti Suzuki has increased its exports to Japan, Africa and other international markets. Due to this, the company is using its production capacity mainly for exports. As a result, there are signs that the supply of rebadged models required by Toyota will be limited. As a result, Toyota’s growth momentum in India is likely to be slowed down.
Toyota Products –
Toyota’s products – Glanza, Urban Cruiser Tigor, Rumion and Urban Cruiser HiRider – are all based on Maruti’s Baleno, Fronx, Ertiga and Grand Vitara. In FY25, Toyota sold a total of 309,230 vehicles in India, of which 160,514 units or 52% were rebadged Maruti models. In FY24, this figure was 44%, so it is clear that Toyota’s dependence on rebadged models has increased.
However, while Maruti sold 648,297 units of its original models in India, Toyota could only supply 106,422 units. This means that Toyota gets only 1 car for every 4 Maruti cars. In such a situation, supply management can be a big challenge for Toyota.
Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) CEO Saharsh Damani said that there is still good demand in the market for Toyota’s rebadged models. However, he clarified that the company can sell as much as it has supply. Therefore, supply is becoming the only constraint for sales.
Both Toyota and Maruti have not yet given any response to the media regarding the vehicle sharing and supply arrangements. This rebadging partnership, which started in June 2019, has been beneficial for Toyota. Starting with the Glanza model, Toyota has made its product portfolio competitive.
Is Toyota and Maruti’s partnership in danger?
On the other hand, Maruti has benefited relatively less from this partnership. They sell only one Toyota model, the Invicto, under their own badge, and in FY2025, the Invicto sold just 4,036 units compared to 62,794 units of Toyota’s Innova Hicross.
Many automobile companies around the world are expanding their product range using platform sharing. However, the partnership between Toyota and Maruti could come under pressure due to the increase in exports to India, which could impact Toyota’s growth in India.