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When Toyota launched the Fortuner in India a couple of years ago, many thought that the vehicle is a just a Innova on steroids. Many bought it for its looks alone and analysts thought the Fortuner’s terrific sales were limited. Before the Fortuner arrived, competitors were selling good number of SUVs and making decent profit (most SUVs in this segment are brought in via the CKD route while some are also brought in as CBUs). However the Toyota Fortuner came and disrupted the complete segment and how. Even though the Fortuner suffers from bad braking, the SUV has managed to uproot the competition.

After looking through the past 3 months sales data of vehicles which compete with the Fortuner, one would be surprised to know the terrible effect caused by Toyota on them. The Ford Endeavour sells around 150 units per month on an average, which is the second best selling SUV after the Fortuner. Others vehicles including the Honda CR-V, Chevrolet Captiva, Mitsubishi Pajero, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, Mitsubishi Outlander, Nisan X-Trail, Renault Koleos, Hyundai Santa Fe, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara each sell less than 100 units a month. How much does the Toyota Fortuner? Almost thrice of the competition combined.

Toyota has consistently sold around 1300-1400 units of the Fortuner every month. The vehicle is available in three variants – 4×2 MT priced at Rs. 24.42 lakhs, 4×2 AT priced at Rs. 25.40 lakhs and 4×4 MT priced at Rs. 25.77 lakhs (all prices on-road, Mumbai). The Fortuner doesn’t have a price advantage either and most of its competitors are priced almost similarly. So what makes the vehicle so popular amongst the SUV loving crowd? Is it the Toyota reliability or the butch looks? What do you think?

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