Toyota Motor Corp.'s Starlet, a compact car that was popular among the younger generation in the '80s and '90s, is set to return to Africa in mid-September for the first time in 21 years, Toyota Tsusho Corp. announced on Sept. 1.
Production on the Starlet shut down in 1999, however, Toyota Tsusho -- the company in charge of distribution in Africa -- decided to reuse the name because it is familiar to many people in Africa, where quite a few used Starlets are still being sold.
The revival of the Starlet is a part of the partnership between Toyota Motor Corp. and Suzuki Motor Corp.
After receiving an OEM (original equipment manufacturing) supply of compact cars from Suzuki's plant in India, Toyota plans to launch the new model of Starlet in Africa to recover its sales in the compact vehicle market.
The price of the Starlet will start at about 1.3 million yen in Africa, making it about half the price of Toyota's compact cars that have been sold in Africa.
Toyota sales are strong in the African market for large vehicles such as the Land Cruiser, but it lags behind Germany's Volkswagen AG and others in compact car sales. Toyota plans to bolster the lineup of its new cars and its annual sales of compact cars from about 20,000 units to about 30,000 units in Africa.
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