Toyota, the Japanese car maker on Monday launched its first small car in India,
Etios Liva priced between Rs 3.99 lakhs and Rs 5.99 lakhs. Etios Liva marks Toyota's entry into the highly popular premium hatchback segment.
CHECK OUT: Liva's competition in the market Toyota Motor's Indian unit expects to sell more than 100,000 Etios sedans and
hatchbacks in 2012, Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director of Toyota Kirloskar, said.
"With Liva we will now be a complete manufacturer in India, offering a full range of products including the luxury SUV Prado... Liva is a very useful stylish and dynamic car," Toyota Kirloskar Motor Managing Director Hiroshi Nakagawa told reporters in the national capital.
The J variant is priced at Rs 3.99 lakhs and the G variant is priced at Rs 4.59 lakhs. This will make the 1.2-litre car from the world's top car maker competitive, the fastest-growing segment in the 2.5-million Indian passenger car market, and force rivals to consider price cuts.
MUST READ: Etios threatens others in sedan segment The company had earlier deferred its launch from April to June. The decision was taken to reduce the long waiting period resulting from the overwhelming response received for the Etios, it added.
"Keeping the target customer in mind a slew of youthful and fun filled activities have been lined up as a part of the marketing campaign. The show stopper is the TV ad campaign, which will feature music composed by the music maestro A R Rahman," the statement said.
The concept vehicles of Etios and Etios Liva were first unveiled at Auto Expo last year in Delhi and later travelled to across the country with the 'Toyota Q-World' reaching out to more than one lakh prospective customers, Toyota said.
FIRST LOOK: Pictures from the auto expo "The Etios has been very well received by our customers across the market. We have delivered more than 20,000 cars as on date," Singh said.
Toyota Etios, starting at Rs 4.96 lakh, has got a big response and the company has already delivered over 20,000 Etios to customers with around 10,000 units more on booking list.
ALSO IN THE MARKET: Ferrari launched in India at Rs 2.2 crore The company expects Liva to get an even better response. Toyota has followed a topdown approach in India after launching its bigger vehicles like Camry sedan and expensive SUVs like Prado and Land Cruiser before rolling out Etios and now Liva.
Toyota Kirloskar is a joint venture between the Japanese carmaker and the Indian Kirloskar group.
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