Toyota Kirloskar Motor, the Indian arm of the Japanese car maker, is nicely laying the platform for good revenues in the festive season. Seeing the potential of upcoming months and hoping to recover for the drop in sales, the company has now launched Xclusive editions of its Etios and Liva. The performance of Etios and Liva has been good so far, something which the company hopes to bank upon. According to reports, Toyota has introduced these vehicles in order to celebrate the second anniversary of Etios brand. Apart from this, sources close to this development claim that only 100 units of these cars will be put on sale throughout the country.
The car maker has included a number of additional features in the mid G variants of both Etios and Liva vehicles. These cars will come with a rear parking sensor, Xclusive badge on the boot lid, chrome gear knob and premium seat fabric. Another feature that has been added to the Xclusive editions of the Etios and Liva is an audio system, which will support Bluetooth. These cars are being offered in three paint shades, which includes white, silver and grey. Industry experts believe that both these cars have the potential of doing well in India, considering the response received by their previous generation models.
Toyota Liva comes in two engine variants, one petrol and one diesel. The petrol version of the Liva runs on a 4-cylinder DOHC engine that has a displacement of 1197 cc and is powered by the Electronic Fuel Injection fuel supply system. This engine has the capacity to generate an output of around 78 bhp and peak torque of 104 Nm. The diesel version, on the other hand, is powered by a 4-cylinder SOHC engine with a displacement of 1364 cc. Capable of producing maximum power of 66 bhp, the diesel variant of the Etios renders a mileage of 23.59 kmpl, according to company claims.
The Etios also comes in both petrol and diesel variants, which are powered by 1.5-litre and 1.4-litre engine, respectively. While the petrol version produces peak power of around 88 bhp, the diesel variant churns out about 66 bhp. Both these variants are mated to 5-speed manual gearboxes. The petrol and diesel versions of the Etios, according to Toyota claims, render fuel economies of 16.78 kmpl and 23.59 kmpl, respectively.
Toyota has not made any official announcement regarding the pricing of the Xclusive editions of the Liva and Etios. However, strong rumours have surfaced, which suggest that these cars will priced around Rs. 15000 higher than the normal G-trim variants. Apart from this, it is expected that like the regular models, these editions will also be made available in diesel and petrol versions.
According to reports by analysts, launching of flagship editions of vehicles is a strategy adopted by car makers to counter the slowdown in the Indian auto market. For a while now, companies in the country have been experience a significant drop in sales. The financial crisis, culminating into an alarming fall in the value of rupee, has resulted in rise in cost inputs, forcing car makers to sell vehicles at a higher rate. This crisis has made situation worse, which was already pretty bad due to the slowdown in demand for cars. Mahindra & Mahindra, like Toyota, recently launched the Special Edition of the Scorpio Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), a flagship version of one of its most successful vehicles. Industry experts believe that the upcoming festive season has the potential of turning things around for car makers. There are a lot of expected launches lined up for the festive season, such as new Skoda Octavia, Nissan Terrano and Volkswagen Polo GT TDI.
