The Toyota Etios is a car that was made exclusively for India. Though it took a while to get going, success was not very far away. The car recently reached the milestone of clocking 1 lakh sales. After seeing the Etios ride without balancing wheels in India, it was time to repeat this story in overseas markets.
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Exports started to South Africa in April and soon after Toyota announced the car for the Brazilian market along with local production.
Indian Autos Blog previously carried a story detailing the features of the Etios that is planned for Brazil.
Toyota Brazil is nearing the launch of the Etios twins, which will be conducted between September and November. It will be built at the Sorocaba plant in Sao Paulo. The plant is expected to churn out 70,000 units in the first year, the same target TKM set for the Indian Etios in the first year.
As we've noted before, the Brazilian Etios is mostly similar to the Indian Etios. The tailgate and stop light cluster are modified while the interiors benefit from the inclusion of adjustable headrests and different interior trim. Controls for audio have been embedded on the steering while the music system is also a different unit. The Brazilian Etios has additions to the color palette.
Can we see these changes appear on the Indian Etios when TKM decides to upgrade it? Surely India must not be made to wait until the product's mid-life refresh for them to arrive. TKM must be very well aware of the activities in rival camps. Plenty of new launches in the B category are threatening to steal away Toyota's customers and upgrading the products, which the Japanese have done regularly, creates some immunity.
The Brazilian Etios sedan will be powered by a 1.5 litre petrol engine mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. The Etios hatch uses a 1.3 liter petrol engine paired to the same transmission.
We hear Toyota is working on the Etios platform to develop new variants. We wish to see a mini SUV, station wagon, a premium sedan and a pickup truck on this platform in the next five years.
[Source - Car.Blog.com.br]
