Eyeing the burgeoning compact car market in India, Toyota Kirloskar Motor on Monday launched its entry-level 1.2 litre petrol hatchback Etios Liva priced between Rs3.99 lakh to Rs5.99 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The Liva will compete with the Maruti Swift, Hyundai i20 and a variant of the i10, Chevy Beat, Ford Figo and Honda Jazz.
The Liva J, the base version comes for ¤3.99 lakh against segment leader Swift’s price tag of ¤4.09 lakh. But Liva J lacks some of the Swift Lxi features such as power steering. In fact, Liva G — priced at Rs4.49 lakh — compares better with the Swift Lxi.
So will it affect volumes of the Swift, Beat, Figo and i20? Mayank Pareek, executive officer, sales and marketing at Maruti Suzuki says his company does not intend to take any pricing action because of the arrival of Liva and the new entrant may not alter the market share dynamics.
Maruti is already ready with a new, upgraded version of the Swift. And since the Liva comes only with a petrol option, it doesn’t compete with diesel versions of Swift, Figo or the soon-to-be-launched Beat diesel.
Toyota, the world’s largest car maker, is hoping to drive in the volumes with Liva, its cheapest product in India. It is built on the Etios sedan platform. Etios was launched in December and has sold over 20,000 units.
When asked about whether Liva would take away share from existing B segment players, Jnaneshwar Sen, Honda Siel Cars India’s senior VP, sales and marketing, pointed out that the B+ segment (longer cars and price upwards of Rs4 lakh) has been growing at over 20% and Liva’s launch may only end up expanding the market instead of wresting any significant share of the market from existing players.
Hyundai Motor India’s director (marketing and sales) Arvind Saxena echoed these sentiments, saying this segment of the passenger market will grow further and absorb the 3,000-3,500 unit per month sales volume expected from Liva.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) is expecting to double total sales volumes to 140,000 units in 2011 on the back of Etios and Liva. Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director, said, “The duo would help us gain critical mass in India. This year we are expecting to sell 140,000 units; in 2012, this would go up to 2,10,000 units.”
This calendar, TKM expects to sell 20,000 units of Liva. Toyota spent close to Rs3,200 crore on developing the Etios platform and in setting up a second plant in Karnataka, with the capacity to manufacture 70,000 units of Etios and Liva annually.
The Liva J, the base version comes for ¤3.99 lakh against segment leader Swift’s price tag of ¤4.09 lakh. But Liva J lacks some of the Swift Lxi features such as power steering. In fact, Liva G — priced at Rs4.49 lakh — compares better with the Swift Lxi.
So will it affect volumes of the Swift, Beat, Figo and i20? Mayank Pareek, executive officer, sales and marketing at Maruti Suzuki says his company does not intend to take any pricing action because of the arrival of Liva and the new entrant may not alter the market share dynamics.
Maruti is already ready with a new, upgraded version of the Swift. And since the Liva comes only with a petrol option, it doesn’t compete with diesel versions of Swift, Figo or the soon-to-be-launched Beat diesel.
Toyota, the world’s largest car maker, is hoping to drive in the volumes with Liva, its cheapest product in India. It is built on the Etios sedan platform. Etios was launched in December and has sold over 20,000 units.
When asked about whether Liva would take away share from existing B segment players, Jnaneshwar Sen, Honda Siel Cars India’s senior VP, sales and marketing, pointed out that the B+ segment (longer cars and price upwards of Rs4 lakh) has been growing at over 20% and Liva’s launch may only end up expanding the market instead of wresting any significant share of the market from existing players.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) is expecting to double total sales volumes to 140,000 units in 2011 on the back of Etios and Liva. Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director, said, “The duo would help us gain critical mass in India. This year we are expecting to sell 140,000 units; in 2012, this would go up to 2,10,000 units.”
This calendar, TKM expects to sell 20,000 units of Liva. Toyota spent close to Rs3,200 crore on developing the Etios platform and in setting up a second plant in Karnataka, with the capacity to manufacture 70,000 units of Etios and Liva annually.
