In spite of being engulfed in crisis internationally over the Toyota’s first hybrid car ‘Prius’, Toyota India today went ahead and began their exhibition of various products including the Prius in Mumbai today; also unveiling the Etios sedan and hatchback concepts. The show being held today and tomorrow will showcase the ‘green’ products as well as new variants from the Toyota stable.
Talking about the Toyota Q World concept, Hiroshi Nakagawa, managing director, Toyota said, “This concept has been materialised to connect with our customers and dealers and know what they feel of the brand. Shows such as these will also help our customer know about the quality process that we follow in the company. We not only believe in quality of product but also quality of service.â€
Nakagawa also informed that Etios is a complete India car made for the Indian audience. Interestingly, Ford also recently unveilved their Figo which also a ‘Made in India for India’ car. However, he said the car will also be exported to other countries once it has been accepted by the audience here.
With Etios in the pipeline, Toyota is also planning to increase their dealership number in India to 150 in this year. The company has 15 dealerships in Maharashtra and plans to add another 13 in 2010. “The brand Toyota has always been attributed to ‘expensive’ but ‘reliable’ cars. With Etios we want to say that we can also build affordable cars at the same quality delivered that in top end vehicles,†said Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director, Marketing, Toyota Kirloskar Motor.
Speaking more about Etios, he said that though the announcement was made only two years ago, the research on the car goes to almost four years. “We did extensive research across the country and the car that you see in flesh today is the hardwork of the engineers and the designers who have put together the best car possible for Indian consumer,†he added. Officials claim that the fuel efficiency of Etios will be 10% better than the cars in that segment. However, Singh said that the company still has to make a decision whether to come out with the hatchback or sedan version of the brand.
Etios hatchback will be in competition with the Swift and i20’s, while the sedan version will compete against the likes of Swift Dzire and Manza. Though the first production car will be out by this year end, officials were tight lipped about any price quotation.
On the recent Pruis controversy and pulling off all Pruis vehicles from the US market, Nakagawa said, “The 
Prius in India will remain unaffected. The vehicle that will be coming to India is all tried and tested and there is absolutely no problem with the car.â€
The Prius to be available in India by March 2010 is likely to be priced between Rs 28lakh for the base version which can even go up to Rs 35lakh.
