Among the utility vehicles launched by Toyota Motors in India was Toyota Qualis which gained instant popularity due to high mileage and powerful acceleration with quick pickup. This car was introduced in India as a joint venture between Toyota Corp and Kirloskar Corp in 2000 as a multi utility vehicle. The only competition it faced in local markets was from auto manufacturers Mahindra and Tata Motors. Its tough exteriors with additional features like rear seatbelts, crumple zone, beams on side doors help retain interest around this brand. The Toyota’s exterior is rugged with large rectangular headlamps ideal for both urban and rural areas. A thoughtful touch integrated into the car by its engineers has been frontal fog lamps and low footstep to assist passengers. The large rear window which some critics state as ungainly when coupled with high ground clearance along with prominent tail lights which makes the car visible from a long distance making it safe for drives even on busy highways at night.
The Toyota Qualis has spacious and comfortable interiors ideal for long journeys along with powerful AC distributing air evenly through vents in dashboard rear corners along with two on the roof. This clever design makes it a delight to drive long distances in India’s humid summers. Steering wheel of the Toyota Quails is easy to maneuver even on traffic laden city roads and its rigid suspension helps rear seat passengers withstand bumps of potholes on city roads which is a common occurrence during monsoons. This seat design is comfortable for long drives and the ample legroom design removes any complaint of tall rear passengers.
Toyota Qualis is also available in a diesel variant with drum brakes enabling the car to make an instant stop during emergencies. With the ability to seat almost 7 adults comfortably it is considered an ideal car for family outings and picnics in the great outdoors. Its excellent mileage of 10 kms within city to almost 14 kms on highways makes it the best choice for small families too. To meet growing demand Toyota has acquired land in collaboration with Kirloskar near Bangalore to set up production facilities and start manufacturing 20,000 vehicles during the first year. This facility will manufacture cars in 10 ranges along with a special variant targeted towards farming sector.
This strong utility vehicle from Toyota was priced at a modest 10 – 12 lakhs thereby attracting several buyers in both rural and urban India even it does not have a very macho design. Toyota Qualis is relatively affordable in most countries due to manufacturing style since it is built as a complete knock down piece in the nations where it is sold. Various parts of the car manufactured at different locations are brought together and assembled thereby keeping production costs low. Though the firm sold only its basic Qualis basic model in India, lack of interest from buyers and competition from Chevrolet and Mahindra made the management introduce better variants with power steering and central locking.
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