To take on its Japanese peer Maruti Suzuki in the B segment in a big way, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd (TKM) is expected to pitch its concept car Etios in the price range that of Swift and Swift Dezire. The company is planning to commence the production by December this year and expect to launch the car in the first week of January, said Toyota Kirloskar managing director Hiroshi Nakagawa.
?Etios will be pitched against Swift and Swift Dezire. While the car’s exact price will be made known only at the time of launch, we expect it to be in the range of Swift and Dezire cars,? Nakagawa told FE. Etios will be launched in both versions?sedan and hatchback, he added.
?Etios is going to be the game changer for TKM in the years to come. We plan to sell 70,000 units in 2011. Based on the success, the company will ramp up its capacity to 2,00,000 units per annum at its new plant beside the existing one at Bidadi in Karnataka.?
Of the 2.2 million passenger car market in India, the B segment premium holds 35% market share or around 7,00,000 cars per annum. ?We will exploit this huge potential through our Etios. ?Despite lot of features and high quality, Etios will have a localisation level of around 75% initially and then will be increased to 100% in the near future. Given the advantage, we will price the car at a most competitive price point,? he said.
?With the concept of ?World first?India first?, we will sell Etios first in India (in the first year) and then we look at for export markets. We hope to start exports of Etios from 2012 onwards to neighbouring countries, Asean and African regions,? he added.
To a question, he said: ?We have been exporting gearboxes to Asean and American regions. We were exporting 1,70,000 units a year to six different countries before but we could sell only 120,000 units last year and that too only to Thailand due to global meltdown. We hope to reach those countries again.?