Toyota Motor Corp. has leaped to fifth place in the India new car market due to strong sales of its strategic compact car Etios, which it began selling in January.

"The car has received a good response from customers since its unveiling in December 2010," said Hiroshi Nakagawa, president of Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Ltd., which produces the model in Bangalore.

"Sales are driving production," Nakagawa said. "We plan to triple annual production of the strategic model from the initial level to 210,000 units by the beginning of 2013."

Supported by the popularity of the Etios, Toyota's passenger car sales in India in the first 11 months of this year expanded 67 percent from a year earlier to 112,000 vehicles, commanding the fifth-largest share of the Indian new car market, a company official said.

The fast-growing Indian auto market has attracted major automakers from Europe, the United States and South Korea as well as Japan. Although growth has slowed since July due to such factors as rising loan rates, higher gas prices and a major strike at industry leader Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers maintains a brisk medium- to long-term outlook.

"Competition is surely growing fiercer, as leading automakers in the world are making strong commitments to the Indian market," said a senior official at Maruti Suzuki, the local unit of Suzuki Motor Corp.

"The Etios, while being a compact car, features a spacious interior as well as high fuel efficiency and good maneuverability," Toyota Kirloskar's Nakagawa said. "We have made a car meeting customer needs and set reasonable prices."