Following the foot step of VW India, Toyota Kirlosker Motors also plans to have its single-make racing series in India. The company showcased Etios and Liva race cars which were developed by TRD (Toyota Racing Development), an in-house tuning shop for all Toyota, Lexus, and Scion cars. So what is so special about this particular racing cars?
16 valve DOHC, 4 Cylinder Petrol engine
A full racing inspired body kit
17 inch alloys
Sport suspension
Lots of racing stuff such as sporty steering, muffler, racing seats with harness etc
This year has been exceptionally difficult for the Japanese manufacturers. The earthquakes, the floods and the recalls have wrecked havoc on their cash registers since the start of 2011.
Well it seems that the recall ghost is back to haunt Toyota as the company has called back all Etios and Liva models manufactured before October 8, 2011 for replacement of faulty filler hose pipe.
The filler hose pipe is responsible for supplying fuel to the nozzle from the tank. Any cracks on the pipe leads to fuel leaks and erratic fuel supply.
The company will recall about 40,000 units of its Etios sedan and Liva hatchback cars for possible cracks in their hose pipe and fuel pipe. The recall represents more than half of 70,000 Etios cars on the road in India. This is a second recall from Toyota India as back in 2008, Toyota had announced a recall of around 20,000 units of Innova.
The recall is called “special service campaign” and Toyota dealers will get in touch with customers on the dates. The company says that the repairs will take no longer than 45 minutes and will be free of cost.
Toyota has identified three new models to expand its South African portfolio in 2012. The FT-86 sports car and the Yaris hybrid will be joined by the Made-In-India Etios during the second quarter of 2012.
The South African Toyota president has expressed fears over diminished growth in 2011 due to the debt crisis in Europe, an important trading partner for SA. Toyota also sells the Fortuner and the Hilux, the latter is South Africa’s best-selling model.
The Etios joins the Yaris and Aygo in the mini car portfolio. It is likely to be the entry-level car.
Toyota Motor Corporation will introduce a compact car tailored for the Chinese market by 2013, the Nikkei business daily reported. The new vehicle, powered using a 1.5-liter engine, will be a little bigger than the Etios and priced under I million yen ($12,853), the report adds. It is not clear whether it is Etios or Liva that will be enlarged.
According to the news report, Toyota plans to build a 40 billion yen facility to roll out the vehicle built using Etios parts. It hopes to boost sales by launching this vehicle through joint ventures with Chinese companies. In India, production was increased recently at Bidadi to reach 310,000 units by 2013.
Apart from China, Toyota could manufacture Etios, or its variants conforming to local tastes in Indonesia and Brazil. An Etios Liva was caught testing in Indonesia recently adding more fuel to the speculation.
Here are three videos of the Etios Liva we captured at the national launch. After posting a static analysis of the car along with a deep-dive of the product development, we had other stories in the industry to follow. In the midst of spy shots, leaked shots, brochure scans, renderings and news articles, we had forgotten about the Etios Liva videos we picked up at the New Delhi launch. To recap, the Etios Liva, priced between 3.99-5.99 lakh rupees (ex-showroom New Delhi) had clocked 1,000+ bookings within three days of the price announcement.
The first video is about the journey of Etios in India. With over 20,000 cars delivered, a AR Rahman tune that’s looping inside everyone’s head, Ratan Tata’s visit to the Toyota stand at the Auto Expo to see the concept model, and Akio Toyoda’s visit to flag off bookings last year, the Etios has seen more action than an Akshay Kumar movie.
After gaining immense popularity in the Indian Market, Toyota has plans to introduce the Etios Liva in Brazil. This should come as no surprise to us because the Etios Liva was specifically designed for the developing countries. But Toyota doesn’t intend to export the Liva from India, instead it plans to manufacture the Liva in Brazil.
In a filing to the US Securities Exchange Commission, it is stated that Toyota will construct a vehicle plant in Sorocaba, Brazil. This plant is expected to produce the Etios small vehicle introduced in India with an annual production capacity of 70,000 units. The plant is expected to commence production in late 2012.
This will be the third plant in the world that is capable of manufacturing the Etios, the first 2 being in India itself. The demand for the vehicle is so high that Toyota India had to expand its capacity from 70,000 units to 120,000 units.
The Liva would be a perfect car for the Brazilian Auto market because it shares the same characteristics as Indian counterpart. Hopefully, Toyota will launch the Etios and Liva in other BRIC nations as well.
Yesterday morning Toyota launched the Etios Liva amidst a group of select media representatives in New Delhi. Like most launches in 2011, IAB was on row one bringing you the prices.
We discussed the variants and technical specifications last week and uploaded a few official images sent in by a reader yesterday, so there was nothing new from the launch except prices.
But how wrong we were!
At the launch Yoshinori Noritake saan, Chief Engineer of the Etios and Etios Liva presented a deep dive into the Liva giving us every insight into the building blocks. TKM’s higher officials shared their view of the Liva’s segmentation, features and target group which we’ll discuss today on IAB.
The first hatchback from the global giant Toyota for India is finally out of the bag. Displayed at the Delhi Auto Expo in 2010 and been under testing ever since, Toyota Kirloskar India has finally decided to take the wraps of the Liva at a press event at Delhi. Toyota Kirloskar has launched Liva with a base price tag of 3.99 lakhs (Ex showroom Delhi). The Toyota Liva is [ Read More ]
