Toyota has launched the Etios Liva TRD Sportivo, which is a limited edition model. The company is celebrating the first anniversary of the Etios by offering 1200 units of this TRD edition-ed model to prospective customers. TRD (Toyota Racing Development) is Toyota’s racing arm, just like Mugen is for Honda, Nismo is for Nissan, AMG if for Mercedes-Benz and M is for BMW. These vehicles will be available in both petrol and diesel till October 2012. The Etios Liva TRD Sportivo petrol variant is priced at Rs. 5.24 lakhs, while the diesel variant is priced at Rs. 6.32 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi). These cars will be available in two colours only, namely white and blue.
The Toyota Etios Liva TRD Sportivo features a TRD designed sports package, which consists of front bumper spoiler, side skirt, two-tone rear bumper, two-tone rear spoiler, 15-inch gun metal smoked alloy wheels, side body graphics, roof ornament, new seat fabric with ‘TRD Sportivo’ logo, silver shift knob and ofcourse limited edition badging. The changes are purely cosmetic and Toyota has not bumped the power of the Etios Liva one bit. The Etios Liva has been doing very poor numbers. Toyota sold just 2096 units of the Etios Liva last month, which is even half of what the Etios sedan sells.
What has the world come to. Companies are offering purely cosmetic modifications to cars and sticking their prestigious racing badges on it. Toyota is not the first manufacturer to do it and Mercedes-Benz recently offered the C-Class AMG Performance Edition. However Mercedes also offered important features to the car, which can’t be fitted aftermarket. Toyota should have considered offering a more powerful engine in the TRD edition-ed model. The company could have taken the 1.4-litre petrol engine from the Etios sedan and plonked it into the Liva to offer a somewhat genuine TRD badged car.
