Toyota would begin Etios deliveries in Jan 2011

Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM) India's new hatchback Etios would be launched by the end of this year and Toyota would begin deliveries of the car by Jan 2011. Toyota India is touring the country with the Etios twins (hatchback and sedan), creating awareness about the Etios concept cars and also gauging the public's response.

There have been speculations about the Etios sedan coming before the hatchback, but this not true. Toyota could even look at launching the Etios twins simultaneously. The Etios hatchback would compete with the Nissan Micra, Ford Figo, Volkswagen Polo, Chevrolet Beat, next generation 2011 Maruti Swift and Honda's upcoming small car.

The Toyota Etios sedan would have to battle it out with fewer but very potent rivals like the Volkswagen Vento (Polo sedan), Honda City, Hyundai Verna Transform, Fiat Linea, Nissan's sedan based on the V-platform (on which the Micra is built), Chevrolet Sail and the European Ford Fiesta sedan.

Hiroshi Nakagawa, MD, TKM -

We will develop it further on the basis of feedback we receive and hope to begin delivery by January next year. With our compact concept car Etios, we hope to attain a sizeable market share in India in the shortest possible time.

Toyota is betting big on the Etios hatchback which would be driving Toyota's sales in India. Toyota India recently invested 3200 crore Rupees to set up a new facility with an annual capacity of 80,000 units at Bidadi, Kanataka.

Sandeep Singh, Deputy Managing Director (Marketing), TKM -

To ensure maximum accessibility to customers, we will expand our sales and service network to nearly 150 dealers by the end of the current year.

Toyota's dealer expansion drive would also see a number of Toyota outlets coming up in Tier 2 and 3 cities. Toyota is looking to capture a sizeable chunk of the Indian small car segment and feels its small car would do brisk business in non-metro cities and towns also.

Source: FC