Toyota Kirloskar Motor has unveiled mid-sized premium sedan ‘Yaris’ at the ongoing Auto Expo 2018 at India Expo Mart, Greater Noida. The company is planning to play it big on the volume side by entering the mid-segment sedans with its globally successful car ‘Yaris’.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), which is a joint venture between the Japanese auto major and Kirloskar group, will launch the Toyota Yaris sedan by April this year. The vehicle would compete with the likes of Honda City, Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and Hyundai Verna in the Indian market.
“We see high market potential with growing population of Indian middle class families aspiring for more advanced features safety space luxury vetyke and comfort,” TKM MD Akito Tachibana told reporters at the Auto Expo 2018.
Toyota Yaris is one of the best selling vehicles from Toyota stable and is being sold across 120 countries across the globe.
“With unique features customised for Indian market and a CVT option, we hope the vehicle will strongly appeal to Indian families especially the women drivers in India,” Tachibana said.
Toyota Motor Corporation Chief Engineer Takatomo Suzuki said the model will introduce new customers to brand Toyota in the country.
For the Japanese rival Honda, City has been and is still the flagship and both in terms of volume and brand recall, while with the new Verna Hyundai has had gained some big traction and for a few months it had even overtook City, which is the segment leader.
But for the full year of 2017, City topped the segment with a monthly average of 4,000 units and Verna too running a close race.
The other differentiators of the car which will be rolled out from its Bengaluru facility in a few months, are roof- mounted air vents for the rear passengers, a power seat for the driver, he said, adding the car comes with 1.5-litre petrol engine.
When asked about the impact of the Budget on the its business, especially imported hybrid units, Raja said, since the GST rollout, even the domestically made Camry hybrid volumes had plunged.
The new Innova still drives its volumes at about 72,000 units in 2017 yanking up a market share of close to 40 percent, while the premium Fortuner clocked around 24,000 units which is 75 percent of the segment and Corolla averaging 5,000 units with 45 percent of the market pie in the segment.
(Written with inputs from PTI)