Live Coverage: Toyota Etios heads to South Africa

We are at the Ennore port here in Chennai, reporting live from the event. Toyota has formally announced the export of the Toyota Etios to South Africa. Earlier today, we posted a pic of the interior of the Toyota Etios that heads to South Africa. It seems that the South African model will not get the flat bottom steering wheel that we get. Apart from that, there are a number of changes to the Etios.

The Etios which will be exported will be manufactured in the Bengaluru facility. The capacity has been ramped up from 80,000 units to 1,20,000 units per annum to assimilate the export demands. Only the petrol variants will be exported to the right hand drive markets of South Africa. The Etios will be sold from 198 outlets in South Africa.

Here are some pointers from the Press conference:

• Both sedan (Etios) and hatch back (Liva) are headed to South Africa.
• The cars are customized for the South African markets. Both cars have a different suspension configuration for high speed driving and different tyres as well.
• Two variants of Liva – The entry level gets black grill and the higher level gets a chrome one.
• The first shipment is of 247 cars
• The company plans to export 20k units annually to South Africa
• The Etios will start at 116,000 Rand in South Africa
• It will compete against Ford Figo and Volkswagen Polo Vivo

Back Home:

• Toyota wants to sell 180,000 vehicles in India this year
• Sales target for Etios is 80,000 units
• Semi urban and rural areas will be key focus points
• 27-28% will be petrol and rest will be diesel
• Special edition Etios and Liva will be introduced to boost sales
• The Etios platform is being carefully studied for future products.
• Toyota Camry comes in August through the CKD route. Budget has affected the price of the Camry a lot. It will only come in petrol as there is no diesel Camry anywhere in the world.

Stay tuned for more information!