HomeCar NewsToyota plans Honda City and Hyundai Verna rival for India

Toyota plans Honda City and Hyundai Verna rival for India

One of the fastest growing segments in Indian auto industry currently is the C segment sedan. Honda City has crossed 45,000 sales mark in the last 6 months, while Hyundai Verna has registered about 20,000 units in the same period. With auto industry once again signalling growing pattern, more manufacturers are going to offer cars in this segment. Maruti Ciaz is going to be launched in the same segment very soon, and so is the Vento facelift.

Where is Toyota in all this, which is the global leader in manufacturing sedans. Well, the Japanese company is planning to launch cars in new segments. In India, Toyota has launched new Etios Cross and Corolla Altis this year. But the segment which sees most sales, Toyota has not managed to tap it. They do have the Etios sedan, but it is not as premium as others in the segment.

Considering Toyota already has the Vios sedan in the South East Asian countries, it becomes the obvious choice for India, but that is not going to be the case. Toyota is not planning to launch Vios in India. Instead, they are planning to launch a new sedan, which will be built on the Etios platform. This new sedan will be more premium than the existing Etios sedan, and will sit between Etios and Corolla.

But, why is Toyota not bringing Vios to India? Well, it requires huge investments to set-up local manufacturing of Vios. Compared to this, it will be cheaper to produce a new Etios based sedan.

The new sedan planned for India will follow the company’s new design language offering a sportier and more aggressive stance as seen on Toyota Corolla Altis. Target customers will be younger and more adventurous band of buyers in the country. Toyota’s upcoming sedan will be offered in both petrol and diesel engine alternatives will receive 1.5 liter petrol and 1.4 liter diesel engines while prices could be in the INR 7-11 lakh bracket.

via Zigwheels

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