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Daihatsu to Help Toyota Develop Vehicles for Emerging Markets

First things first, an emerging market doesn’t meet the standards of a developed country such as the U.S., but it’s steadily getting there. For manufacturers with global operations, tapping into these markets is of utmost importance. And this is where the “Emerging-market Compact Car Company” comes in.
Toyota ; Daihatsu 12 photos
Photo: Toyota ; Daihatsu
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As a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota, Daihatsu has a helluva lot of experience in designing cars for emerging markets, building them efficiently, and selling them with ease. Toyota, however, lacks this know-how, which is why the Japanese mothership decided to create the ECCC with Daihatsu.

Not to be confused with a new car brand, the Emerging-market Compact Car Company will go online on January 1, 2017, and its main objective is “to establish work processes untethered by conventional practices and rules and to introduce competitive ever-better cars based on Daihatsu's approach to manufacturing affordable, high-quality products.” In simpler terms, Toyota needs Daihatsu’s car-making expertise to extend its global footprint.

ECCC will consist of three divisions: Product and Business Planning, Product Planning, Quality Planning Division. The first will span Toyota and Daihatsu and, among its assignments, the Product and Business Planning division will make proposals for Toyota-branded vehicles for emerging markets.

As a result, Toyota Motor Asia Pacific Engineering and Manufacturing will be renamed Toyota Daihatsu Engineering and Manufacturing, thus morphing into an entity controlled by the ECCC. Toyota underlines that Daihatsu will basically have responsibility for product development for emerging-market compact cars,” but it’s the ECCC’s Product Planning and Quality Planning divisions that will see through the final product development and quality assurance for Toyota-branded vehicles that will be sold in emerging markets.

Masanori Mitsui of Daihatsu has been chosen to fill the role of ECCC chairman, while Toyota managing officer Shinya Kotera will act as the president of the internal company. Expect to see the first product developed under the ECCC’s business model to see the light of day sometime in the latter half of 2017.

Emerging\-market Compact Car Company
Photo: Toyota;Daihatsu
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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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