Toyota Ertiga, a Toyota-badged Ertiga will be the third rebadged model in India under the Suzuki-Toyota partnership. This MPV will be launched in the country by August 2021, as per a new report from The Economic Times.
Suzuki and Toyota announced their intention to expand their partnership in March 2019. The Japanese automakers announced various new fields for collaborative business under consideration, one of which was OEM supply of Suzuki’s Ertiga to Toyota for sale in India and even Africa.
Suzuki’s Ertiga is currently is in its second generation. It is manufactured by Suzuki Indomobil Motor in Cikarang, Indonesia and by Maruti Suzuki in Gurgaon, India. The Ertiga shared with Toyota, for sale in both India and African markets, will be the one manufactured by the latter.
There’s no word on whether the Japanese automakers have reached a conclusion to sell the rebadged MPV in African markets, though. Even the decision to sell it India is something we know via the business publication’s undisclosed source, and neither Suzuki nor Maruti Suzuki has confirmed this development yet.
Sadly, India will get no global Toyota models below INR 10 lakh (ex-showroom) for the foreseeable future. Toyota and its Indian subsidiary Toyota Kirloskar Motor will heavily rely on Suzuki and its Indian subsidiary Maruti Suzuki in these segments. In fact, if one of the other new areas of partnership works out, the second-gen Vitara Brezza will be manufactured at one of TKM’s plants as well.
Also Read: TKM to launch Toyota Vellfire luxury MPV on 26 February
The Toyota Etios Liva (hatchback), Toyota Etios Cross (crossover) and Toyota Platinum Etios (sedan), priced from INR 5,34,500*, INR 6,50,000* and INR 6,50,400* respectively, will exit our market in March. The Toyota Glanza, priced from INR 6,97,900*, will become TKM’s most affordable model then.
*Ex-showroom Delhi
[Source: auto.economictimes.indiatimes]
