More info on Toyota EFC - does it hint to a new entry level Perodua model?

In a previous post, we have talked about Toyota's upcoming low cost car (LCC), codenamed Emerging Family Car (EFC). Come Jan-5 2010, we will be treated with the first concept model of the EFC in next month's New Delhi Auto Show. Initial information suggests that the car was targetted to be priced below USD 7,000 but a price closer towards USD 8,000 (RS 4lakhs) appears to be more realistic. Both a sedan and hatchback body type will be made available.
Note : image above is an example of a low cost car and have nothing to do with the Toyota EFC.

Series production of the EFC will begin in December 2010 in India in Toyota's second plant in Bangalore, operated by Toyota's Indian outfit Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd (TKM). TKM's planned annual volume for the EFC is 70,000 units. According to information gathered from Toyota Tsusho Corp (trading arm of Toyota Motor Co.), Toyota's global production volume is projected to increase by 500,000 units in 2010, with a large portion of these contributed by EFC. The EFC will eventually be sold in major developing markets like Brazil, China and parts of ASEAN. In ASEAN markets, it is rumoured that Toyota plants in Vietnam and Indonesia are both vying to be the regional production hub for the EFC.

The EFC is rumoured to receive significant input from Daihatsu, but there will not be any Daihatsu badged equivalents, which actually makes sense because despite their expertise in building cheap small cars, Daihatsu's presence is very small outside Japan, and aside from Daihatsu's "indirect control" of the Malaysian car market via Perodua, they have very little success in developing markets to speak of. In Indonesia's - the company's largest market in ASEAN, Daihatsu equivalents of Avanza (Xenia) and Rush (Terios) trails behind their Toyota equivalents. In July this year, Daihatsu had to withdraw from China due to very poor sales. Apparently, Chinese consumers didn't respond very positively to its Xenia (sold here as Toyota Avanza). The idea that China is a land of opportunity certainly do not apply to Daihatsu.

But still, though the EFC might never be badged as Daihatsu, don't rule out the possibility of the EFC being sold under Perodua. It's the only way to get around Malaysia's protectionist policies and to avoid having the Malaysian government giving them an earful. Entry level versions of Perodua's Viva sell around 30,000 units a year. As the name suggests, margins for low cost cars are very thin, thinner than the insulations on these cars so manufacturers have to compensate by substantially increasing volume. So TMC needs to dig deep and hard to find market for these cars.

But this leads us to the on-going debate on why should the Malaysian taxpayer continue to prop up a Japanese company with a local front, at the expense of so many other opportunity cost, from so many other potential investments. Nobody else outside Japan snaps up the Sirion (Myvi's Japanse badged cousin) as much as us.

EFC is set to launch in India by 2011, with other overseas market to follow. So, are we going a new entry level model from Perodua between 2011 and 2012? Slotted below or even replace the Viva BX, currently the cheapest car in Malaysia? If the sedan version of the EFC is introduced, this could also be Perodua's first sedan model. Of course, the above are purely speculation based no reliable information from either Daihatsu or Perodua.

Related link :
Toyota EFC by 2010, and a growing LCC market