Toyota Etios sedan coming before hatchback

Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM) has not been having as great a run in the Indian car market as one would expect it to. Even though the Indian car market is booming the carmaker is not getting a major share of the growth pie. However, all eyes are now on the company’s latest India-specific offering Toyota Etios. The launch of the much anticipated car is just weeks away and it is an important step for the Japanese car giant who is expecting the car to amount to about 50 per cent of its total sales in the coming years.

Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM) has not been having as great a run in the Indian car market as one would expect it to. Even though the Indian car market is booming the carmaker is not getting a major share of the growth pie. However, all eyes are now on the company’s latest India-specific offering Toyota Etios. The launch of the much anticipated car is just weeks away and it is an important step for the Japanese car giant who is expecting the car to amount to about 50 per cent of its total sales in the coming years.

Contrary to what was being predicted Toyota would launch the sedan first in December and then its compact hatch Etios three months later.

The Toyota Etios hatchback is Toyota’s first hatch especially designed for India. The car is suppose 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. The company is also seriously looking at a diesel engine for Etios.

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Toyota plans to sell 65,000 units of Toyota Etios next year of a total target of 1.5 lakh units across the country.

Since the Indian car buyers are very cost-sensitive the market dynamics change for these foreign players who need to price their products competitively. To do so carmakers are moving towards localising their products. The trend towards localising cars is developing from the fact that the cost of spare parts and maintenance goes down thereby becoming more feasible for the end user and carmaker. Toyota Etios is going to be localised by upto 70 per cent. The company has shortlisted six suppliers from India for the same.

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The company is not leaving any stone unturned to make Toyota Etios a success – as a steps taken for Etios’s success the company appointed musical genius A R Rahman as Etios brand ambassador and it increased its dealerships in the country to 150 from 82.

Right now Toyota’s Indian portfolio has cars like – Toyota Corolla Altis, Toyota Camry, Toyota Fortuner, Toyota Prado and utility vehicle Toyota Innova.