Toyota plans hybrid car assembly plant in Bangladesh, $40m '3S' centres planned for Dhaka and Chattogram

Japanese automotive giant Toyota is seriously reviewing a plan to set up an environmentally friendly hybrid car assembly plant in Bangladesh within the next one to two years. If implemented, the initiative would strengthen the flow of foreign direct investment into the country's automobile industry and open a new door for modern technology transfer and expansion of local production capacity.

As an initial step of the proposed industrialisation, the company plans to invest about $40 million in capital to build two state-of-the-art '3S' centres (sales, after-sales service and spare parts) in Dhaka and the port city of Chattogram. Construction of the two centres is scheduled to begin this November.

Invest Bangladesh sources said the centres will provide integrated services covering vehicle marketing, overall maintenance, modern repair and supply of world-class genuine parts. This activity will mark the beginning of Toyota's direct institutional presence in the Bangladesh market.

The sources added that if the government maintains necessary policy facilities and support, the company will enter the final phase of hybrid car assembly within the next one to two years, with overall assistance from Invest Bangladesh.

Local consumers and business circles see Toyota's expansion plan positively. DBH Finance PLC assistant vice president Md Abu Yusuf told the state news agency BSS that starting local assembly would significantly reduce high import costs.

He said consumers would then be able to buy modern hybrid cars at affordable prices, and reliable genuine parts and efficient after-sales service would become easily available, greatly increasing trust in the brand in the market.

Highlighting the prospects for the country's industrial sector, former FBCCI director and SMH Group managing director Syed Moazzem Hossain said Toyota's investment would create vast opportunities for local spare-parts manufacturers, associate businesses and technical manpower.

He said that by developing local talent and skills, the initiative would lay the foundation of a modern automobile industry on the country's soil and encourage other global companies to come to Bangladesh.

Syed Moazzem Hossain also noted that if the cars produced can be made fit for export to international markets after meeting domestic demand, Bangladesh would be able to establish itself as a regional production hub.

However, to turn this potential into reality, sustainable policy support, attractive tariff and tax incentives and rapid development of supporting backward-linkage industries must be ensured, he said, adding that this would raise the country's standing in the global supply chain alongside foreign currency earnings.