Toyota Etios trial production next month

The trial models of Toyota Etios go into production next month. Toyota Etios is the company’s much anticipated small car for the Indian market. The trial production comes three months ahead of its proposed launch. Shekar Viswanathan, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) Deputy Managing Director (Commercial), told a news agency, "Before starting the commercial production in December, we will have two rounds of trial productions. While one will start in September, the next one will be in October. These cars are not for sales. We will run it on test tracks for quality and all other checks. We may also later dismantle these cars.”

Since there is much stress on 'going green', the company would also try to launch the car in other fuel types. Toyota Motor Asia Pacific President Mitsuhiro Sonoda was quoted saying, "We are looking at every possible alternative to launch Etios. Apart from diesel and petrol variants, we will study the market and demand for launching the car in other fuel options (LPG and CNG) and hybrid mode.”

Etios is Toyota’s first hatch especially designed for India. The car is supposed to have DOHC 16-valve engine with a 1200cc displacement and is expected to be priced around Rs 5 lakh. The company will launch both hatchback and sedan under the Etios series with 1.2 litre and 1.5 litre petrol engines respectively. Initially there won’t be a diesel variant available but the company could think about one after the launch.

Toyota plans to sell 65,000 units of Toyota Etios next year of a total target of 1.5 lakh units across the country. Right now Toyota’s Indian portfolio has cars like – Toyota Corolla Altis, Toyota Camry, Toyota Fortuner, Toyota Prado and utility vehicle Toyota Innova.