Etios Launch Makes Toyota Upbeat
By Arnab Ghosh, Gaea News NetworkThursday, December 2, 2010
BANGALORE, INDIA (GaeaTimes.com)- The largest automaker of the world, Toyota Motor Corp is bullish on increasing its market share in the Indian car market where it has a minuscule share till date. The Japanese Car giant officially unveiled its much touted made for India sedan Etios in India yesterday. Toyota wants to make an aggressive entry in the mid sized car segment in India with it and therefore it has priced the model competitively. The models of Etios are priced between INR 4.9 lakh and INR 6.8 lakh for the sedan. This puts it at advantage compared to rival Maruti Suzuki’s Swift Dzire. Etios will also be launched in a hatchback version in the next year as Toyota has said. The Etios will also lock horns with Tata Motors Indigo Manza which belongs to the same category.
Akio Toyoda the Toyota president said on the eve of Etios launch in India “Etios is definitely a milestone not only for Toyota in India, but for Toyota globally”. Toyota will procure 70 percent of Etios’s parts from Indian vendors and this is a boon for the auto ancillary market of India. Toyota is planning to sell around 70000 Etios units in India in next year. Despite the global recall fiasco the image of the iconic Japanese car maker is not tarnished in India. Toyota wants to use the opportunity.
The Etios was in the making for a few years. Toyota wanted to launch the vehicle in the country in the perfect time. So far the company focused on high end sedans and SUVs and with Etios launch the equation is set to change.
