Toyota Fortuner bookings shut till January 2011

Toyota Fortuner has gone on to become Toyota’s bestseller in the country. There is a mad rush for its bookings and Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM) has suspended bookings of the Toyota Fortuner one again this time till January 2011. Toyota had opened bookings of the SUV for a month from July 1 but Toyota dealers received 3004 bookings that is about 100 bookings a day.

TKM had already been facing a backlog and with the new bookings being added to it the total number of Fortuner bookings with Toyota are now over 6,000 units. TKM had shut bookings for the Fortuner between January 31 for 5 months due to a big order backlog. To match up to the demand Toyota Kirloskar Motor is once again ramping up the production of Toyota Fortuner to over 1,000 units a month. TKM has a target of meeting the backlogs by Decembr this year and once the company has met the backlogs only then would the bookings reopen in January, 2011.

The big and bulky SUV is in great demand across the country and the company has been staring at a huge backlog for a long time. To meet the backlog, the company had once before increased the production to more than 950 units per month from the initial 500 units per month. Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director-Marketing had said, “We would like to thank our customers for the extremely encouraging response till date. The resounding success of the Fortuner in India also meant a backlog of customer orders and high waiting periods. We have now increased the production of the vehicle to more than 950 units to clear the present backlog of less than 4000 customer orders by this September. We are happy to reopen the bookings from the 1st of July for a limited period, and will start deliveries of the vehicle from October until December 2010.”

The mighty beast comes equipped with a 2982 cc Common Rail Diesel Engine that churns out 163 PS(160 BHP) of power and 35 kgm of torque, aided by a Variable Geometry Turbocharger(VGT). The choice of transmission is limited to a four speed auto and a five speed manual transmission. The suspension is stiff but it soaks up the jerks and bumps very easily without rattling your bones. The ride and handling is at par with competition. The Fortuner is a true blue SUV unlike most of its counterparts which are soft roaders and offer a car like feel. The huge tyres (Bridgestone Dueler HT 265/65 – R17) offer a decent grip on the road and should offer good off road capability to the giant. Safety features haven’t been compromised with ESP, EBD and traction control on offer.

The Fortuner looks impressive though it is mostly like the old SUVs. It dwarfs most of the soft roader SUVs in India and would be a direct competition to the Ford Endeavour in road presence and performance. The design is boxy but is more rounded in comparison to the Endeavour. The interior sports a two tone dashboard as seen in the Innova with vast slab of grey. The Fortuner also has a large touch screen at the centre console with the aircon controls right under it. There is a climatronic AC system which cools all the three rows of seats. Space and seating comfort is at par with Endeavour and Captiva. There is also plenty of head and leg room. The plastic quality is not the best but it doesn’t disappoint either, leaving no rooms for any complaints.