Japanese auto major Toyota Motor’s Indian joint venture Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) will not be launching any new vehicles in the country this year, excepting the Hiace people mover. The company has itself revealed about this strategy for this year to the media.
During an interview, Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s Senior Vice President and Director of Marketing & Sales, Mr. N. Raja said that the company would not be any new product launches this year, confirming the reports.
In the last year, TKM had offered many launches including two new model launches. The company had launched the mildly refreshed models of the Etios sedan and Etios Liva hatchback. The company had also launched the Etios Cross based on the same Etios platform to venture into the new pseudo SUV segment of India. Moreover, TKM had launched the more stylish and bolder looking all new Corolla Altis in India, which was probably the company most important launch in India, considering Corolla’s iconic status. Buoyed on the new launches, TKM received good market performance with a considerable sales boost.
However, the current year of 2015 will be rather dull for Toyota India, as the company will not be launching any significant models this year. Nevertheless, TKM will be launching many new variants as well as special edition models of its existing products in order to have sustainable sales rates for the year. Toyota has also launched a new entry level model trim of the Fortuner SUV with a 2.5 liter engine and a new 3.0 liter all 4 wheel drive AT variant of the SUV in the last month.
TKM will also have a sole new model launch in India this year in the form of the Hiace people mover. The company has already announced about its plans to launch the new Hiace to the Indian car market in mid 2015.
While this year, the world’s top auto maker will not be launching many new models in India, next year will be a big launch year. For 2016 TKM is all geared up to launch the new generation models of two of its bestselling products in India, namely the Innova MPV and the Fortuner premium SUV. As per the reports, the all new Innova and the all new Fortuner are expected to be introduced to the world this year, while their Indian launches are highly expected to be taking place on the platform of the 2016 Indian Auto Expo which will be held in February next year.
While the big launches are reserved for the next year, TKM will retain the interest levels of its customers by introducing on special edition models and new model trims of its existing vehicles.
Toyota is also reportedly more focused on reinstating its premium and reliable status in India currently rather than simply focusing on increased sales. As part of this new strategy, TKM is trying to increase its safety levels for the Indian customers and has started offering airbags as standard across all its car models in India from the beginning of this year.
This post was written by
I am into the auto blogs field for quite a long time. Living my passion of reviewing cars.
Tagged: Toyota Hiace
Leave a Reply