India’s economy has long been touted to investors as the next China. Toyota thinks so for electric vehicles. It plans to invest heavily in making EV parts in India. For the Japanese carmaker, which counts US and China as core overseas markets, this move makes sense.
Toyota’s 48bn rupees ($624mn) investment will focus on producing electric vehicle parts. Toyota has trailed peers in the move to battery electric vehicles. Yet on 11 times forward earnings, the carmaker has double the multiple of German peers such as Volkswagen, well ahead in battery EVs.
India, too, wants to make up for lost time, with plans for 30 per cent of all new cars sold to be electric by 2030. Toyota has its sights set on selling 3.5mn electric vehicles globally by 2030.
Electric car adoption has been slow in India. Blame high EV prices and a lack of charging infrastructure. India’s GDP per capita of below $2,000 is less than a fifth that of China, making price a big obstacle in future EV uptake. Toyota’s relatively late start to the electric market means there is scope to build low-end cars from scratch for the India market. Mitsubishi Motors’ sub $18,000 electric car for the Japanese market shows it can be done.
As for charging points, India and Japan have partnered to develop a common standard for electric car charging stations for emerging markets. A plan for a simplified construction standard, with installation costs below $10,000, could halve current costs.
India’s electric car sales have been weak, at just about 300,000 in total last year. Yet the country shows no reluctance to the shift to electric when it comes to low-cost scooters, with sales here increasing 370 per cent in March. Having more of the electric car supply chain production in India would further lower costs.
Shares of Toyota are up more than a third in the past year, beating the MSCI World Auto index. Capturing India’s EV market early should help maintain its momentum and valuation premium.
