Toyota will take the battle to Honda with the Vios in the C-segment in India. The company will eventually replace the Etios which has negatively changed many people’s perception towards the brand.
Toyota has plans of meeting its Japanese rival Honda head on with the launch of the Vios in India. The next generation Vios from the Japanese firm’s stable is being developed by Toyota Asia Pacific in Thailand, with Indian specifications in mind. The Indian arm of Toyota has placed orders for components of the next generation Vios, its mid-size C-segment sedan, which they have planned to position against segment leader Honda City with a reported launch in 2018, the debut taking place in January of the same year.
The alternative to the Honda City will be powered by two new engines, a 1.6-litre petrol and a 1.6-litre diesel. Toyota’s Indian arm will import these units from Toyota’s Thai arm. The next generation Vios is reported to have a full model change and is supposed to cater across globally. The Japanese car maker seems to aim at sales figures of 65,000 units in India with the launch of the Vios sedan.
The Etios which was launched in 2010 might get withdrawn from production by 2020, with the Vios replacing it. The Etios and its sibling, the Liva was targeted at the volume segment by Toyota, in India; unfortunately they have not been able to set the cash registers on fire. The official sales figure indicates the falling sales of the Etios twins in India, which might have made the Japanese giant to reconsider their product strategy for the country.
The Toyota Vios when launched here in India, will have a tough fight against the Honda City, which is the market leader in the mid-size sedan category. To compete against the segment leader, Toyota needs to either make something amazing or wait for Honda to make a mistake, considering the Etios and the Liva’s downfall was due to poor fit and prominent cost cutting, Toyota needs to seriously keep in mind the quality standards set by its peers before any development of this product.
Source – LiveMint.com