The Toyota Etios series and the Corolla Altis have been discontinued in India
Toyota Kirloskar Motors, like every other automaker in India has gone from slowdown to lockdown. Sales which have been dipping over the past several months has now turned into a complete lockdown of the company plant after the Government of India announced a 21 day lockdown to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The company has reported sales de-growth by 59 percent in March 2020. Total sales in the past month stood at 8,022 units, down from 13,662 units sold in March 2019. Domestic sales dipped 55 percent from 12,818 units sold in March 2019 to 7,023 units sold last month while exports increased from 844 units to 999 units in the past month.
Speaking about individual sales, Innova Crysta was the best selling Toyota last month – registering 3,810 units. 2nd best selling Toyota was the Glanza with 1,533 units. On No 3 was the Fortuner with 1,100 units. Yaris registered sales of 424 units Vellfire 96 units and Camry 90 units. Domestic sales stood at 7,023 units – down 45% when compared to March 2019 sales.
Toyota Kirloskar Motors has managed to liquidate all of its BS4 stocks and moved on to 100 percent BS6 manufacturing. The last batch of the Etios series that consists of cars like the Etios Premium, Etios Liva and the Etios Cross and Corolla Altis were produced at the company’s Bidadi plant following which these two models have been discontinued not only due to the lack of demand but also due to the hefty BS6 transition costs.
However, the company confirms that it will continue to cater to all Etios series and Corolla Altis customers via the Toyota service outlets with the promise of availability of Toyota genuine spare parts. The new gen Corolla is already on sale in international markets and it remains to be seen whether Toyota will bring it to India.
The company is paying special attention to the wellbeing of their workers, staff and dealers. Toyota has studied fixed costs of dealerships and has come up with Dealer Support Package called ‘COVID Package’ to assist in maintaining liquidity to improve cash flow. The package will ensure liquidity by giving cash flow support to all dealerships to help in sustaining the business during the lock down period and to protect the dealer partners for around 38-75 days based on the individual dealer overheads.
The automaker is also working with financial partners for a one time reduction of inventory funding interest. For the safety of employees, Toyota has announced a multi dimensional approach wherein virtual doctor consultation services will be available to employees and their families. For this, the company has entered into a partnership with vHealth by Aetha to assist those who cannot go to hospitals and this will help around 6,000 employees and their dependent family members.