Toyota Kirloskar has registered bookings for 12,000 Etios sedans in the first 15 days since the bookings started on December 1st. With the market showing that kind of interest in the new car, the company seems to be in a pleasurable ‘problem of plenty.’ At that rate, the company should be able to book the targeted 70,000 units for 2011 in only three months! That’s absolutely overwhelming for a car, even the production of which has not yet begun. The car’s production will begin on December 20 at Toyota’s plant near Bangalore.
The India-specific car, developed by Toyota, seems to be doing for them what the Figo did for Ford a year ago. Toyota’s sales in the country will magically double to 1,45,000 units in the next year.
The new Etios’ base version is priced at Rs 4,96,000 Ex showroom, which is a very aggressive price for a car from the fabled Toyota stable. And this is when the level of localization is at around 70% with the engine and transmission being imported from Japan. Once the company starts making these components locally, taking the localization to 90% it may drop the prices further.
We are sure that Maruti Suzuki’s Dzire and Tata’s Manza have taken some bashing as entry level car buyers make a beeline at the Toyota showrooms. We’ll have a look at the sales nos. for the cars for the month of December very soon, and get back to you. Till then, stand in awe of the success the new Toyota sedan is witnessing in the Indian market.
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