One of the largest car manufacturers in the world, Toyota Motor Corp has recently come out with its plans for growth in the next year. The auto manufacturer is expecting to grow globally by 20%. The sale of its luxury brand, the Lexus, has also been included in the growth prediction. With respects to growth in its home market of Japan, the company is expecting to achieve 28% sales increase. Slightly lower prediction has been made for its global market sales growth, which is expected to rise by 19%. In terms of production growth, in which India is expected to play a very important role, Toyota forecasts a 24% global growth.
Most car manufacturers these days have identified the potential of the Indian auto market, which can offer them substantial growth and hence, they are are designing their developmental plans considering India’s market dynamics. Toyota Motors also believes in the same. Examples that can be highlighted in this regard include its hatchback, the Etios Liva and its sedan, the Toyota Etios. Both these cars have been specifically developed keeping in mind the requirements of the Indian auto market. Toyota has also identified the great demand that India has for diesel cars. Working on this line, the auto giant has also introduced diesel variants for both these cars in the Indian market. This has turned out to be an excellent decision as the sales of the two cars have received a tremendous boost. This has further inspired Toyota Motors to take the decision of exporting these two Etios variants to the auto market of South Africa. However, they are going to make necessary modifications in both the cars to suit the local market demand.
Toyota Motors has focused greatly in bringing down the costs of Etios twins. The Toyota Etios has been made available at a price of Rs.4.99 lacs, whereas the Etios Liva has been offered at Rs.3.99 lakh. However, it looks like the car maker has gone a bit overboard in a few aspects, while going for this cost cutting. As reported in Indian Drives recently, Toyota India has recently identified a small mechanical problem in the filler hose of both these cars, particularly in production models that have turned out before 8th October. It is anticipated that around 41,000 units of both the Etios Liva and the Toyota Etios have been affected by this mechanical fault. Toyota has started requesting its Etios customers to visit its dealerships to have this problem rectified. The company has been very proactive in this aspect and has even advertised in national dailies to make its consumers aware of probable threats from this manufacturing defect.