Toyoda's comments come days after rival Nissan Motor Co. announced the revival of the Datsun brand to target buyers in the lowest and sizeable end of developing markets, while a German magazine reported Volkswagen was also planning a similar move.
"We are a full-line carmaker," Toyoda told a small group of reporters in Tokyo.
"But to grow sustainably, we need to make a certain level of profit on cars, no matter how big or small they are. Does Toyota have the ability to make cars for 500,000 yen ($6,000) like Tata Motors? I don't think so," he said, referring to the Indian automaker famed for developing the world's cheapest car, the Nano, whose sales have fallen short of targets.
"When we think about what customers value in our cars, it's reliability," Toyoda said, adding that was evident in the popularity of used Toyota cars in many Asian countries.
"We won't risk sacrificing quality simply to meet a certain price range," he said.
As demand becomes saturated in the developed world, global automakers are eyeing low-cost cars to drive sales growth, especially among first-time buyers moving up from motorcycles and used cars in emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and China.
