World’s largest automobile manufacturer, Toyota said that its sales for the Etios model are going ahead of their expectations. Figures show that around 37,000 have been received for the Etios sedan in first seven months of its release, while the Japanese giant had anticipated sales of 30,000 units, Toshihiro Takeda, manager of Toyota's India product planning group, said on Tuesday.
Its not only the Etios sedan which is doing the unexpected - the hatchback Etios Liva has also given a thrust to Toyota’s sales by bagging 1,400 orders within four days of its launch on June 27, almost 50 percent more than expected, he said at a grand test-drive event for journalists and analysts held in eastern Japan.
The competition has grown fiercer with rivals like Volkswagen, General Motors and Nissan all set to introduce their entry level hatchbacks in Brazil and India. It will be a litmus test for Toyota on how they fare in both these countries and this will decide their fate in the long term run.
The initial price of Etios Liva is Rs 3,90,000 which is the lowest offering in Toyota’s global line-up.
Etios chief engineer Yoshinori Noritake was confident and content with the overall success of Etios model in the Indian auto market. He said, "We started with India because it's the most competitive market, with the cheapest cars. We figured that if we could make it here, we could make it in other emerging markets."
