Toyota, Honda, and Suzuki are reworking their manufacturing footprint with over $11 billion in new investments, and the vacation spot has caught many without warning. These Japanese automotive giants are quickly constructing manufacturing capability in India, marking probably the most vital strategic pivots within the world auto trade.
Toyota and Suzuki have dedicated $11 billion to broaden manufacturing and export capabilities, whereas Honda introduced it’ll make India the manufacturing base for one in every of its deliberate electrical automobiles beginning in 2027. Japan’s annual direct funding in India has gone up over seven instances between 2021 and 2024, presently sitting at $1.92 billion. In the meantime, Japanese funding in China dropped 83% over the identical interval, to simply in need of $300 million.
Getty Photos
India presents Japanese producers one thing China not can: decrease prices, an enormous labor pool, and safety from Chinese language EV opponents who face restrictions within the Indian market. The manufacturing growth is aggressive. Toyota introduced greater than $3 billion to broaden its present southern India manufacturing unit and construct a brand new plant, taking capability to over 1 million automobiles. Suzuki is investing $8 billion to broaden manufacturing capability to 4 million vehicles yearly, up from 2.5 million presently.
India’s export energy is rising quickly. The nation produced 5 million passenger vehicles in fiscal 12 months 2024, with roughly 800,000 exported. Complete vehicle exports surged 19% in 2024, reaching over 5.3 million items, pushed by sturdy shipments to Latin America and Africa. Whereas China produced over 26 million vehicles in 2023, India’s momentum tells a special aspect to the story. The clincher? Passenger automobiles and half exports from India are excluded from tariffs within the US, no less than in the intervening time.
Honda
India has established itself because the world’s third largest automobile market, overtaking Japan in 2023 with 4.27 million items bought versus Japan’s 4.25 million. That stated, India remains to be nicely behind China and the USA, which produced roughly 26 million and 10.6 million whole automobiles in the identical 12 months. However whereas American automakers have doubled down on vans and SUVs, Japanese manufacturers are positioning themselves to dominate the reasonably priced automobile section globally by means of Indian manufacturing.
The demographic benefit is big. India’s automobile trade has grown 60% since 2015, rising from 2.6 million to 4.2 million items. But with solely 44 automobiles per 1,000 individuals in comparison with Japan’s 502 and China’s 251, India has huge room for growth. For US consumers watching automobile costs soar, India’s emergence as a low-cost manufacturing hub may finally present aid on the dealership.
This story was initially reported by Autoblog on Nov 8, 2025, the place it first appeared within the Information part. Add Autoblog as a Most well-liked Supply by clicking right here.