Toyota banks on sale of rebadged Maruti models to hit best year ever in India
- Toyota Motor and Maruti Suzuki are currently in a partnership where both carmakers share models and sell them in rebadged versions in India.
Toyota Motor expects its sales in India to will continue to soar with rebadged Maruti Suzuki models. The Japanese auto giant, which is in a partnership with the Indo-Japanese carmaker, hopes 2023 to be the best year for Toyota in India since its debut here. Toyota currently sells at least two rebadged Maruti Suzuki models in the country. It has rebadged Maruti Baleno hatchback as Glanza and Ertiga MPV as Rumion. Around 40 per cent of Toyota's sales in the first eight months this year has come from rebadged Maruti cars.
Speaking to news agency Reuters, Atul Sood, Vice President of Sales at Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said that Maruti's portfolio of affordable cars continue to attract buyers, helping to boost its sales. In 2022, Toyota sold more than 1.60 lakh cars in India. In comparison, the Japanese auto giant has already sold nearly 1.50 lakh vehicles till August and is on track to break its all-time annual sales record in the country this year. "We are confident of closing this calendar year with our best ever performance and setting a new benchmark. The HyRyder has given us a new set of customers who are majorly upgrading. The majority of the demand is coming from a younger profile," Sood said.
Toyota also plans to expand its footprint across India. Sood said the Japanese carmaker will now focus on the smaller cities in various parts to reach out to more customers. Currently, Toyota has over 600 dealerships located all over the country.
Among the cars it currently sells, Toyota Glanza and Urban Cruiser HyRyder SUV are among the best-selling models from the carmaker in India. While Glanza is a rebadged Maruti car, the SUV was jointly developed with Maruti Suzuki, which the latter sells as Grand Vitara. Toyota Glanza comes at a starting price of ₹6.81 lakh and goes up to ₹10 lakh (ex-showroom). The Urban Cruiser HyRyder SUV price starts from ₹10.73 lakh and goes up to ₹19.74 lakh (ex-showroom).
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Toyota recently launched the Rumion MPV, which is also a rebadged Maruti model called Ertiga. The three-row MPV was launched at ₹10.29 lakh (ex-showroom). The price of the Toyota MPV goes up to ₹13.68 lakh (ex-showroom) for the top-end variant. It is also offered with CNG technology.
Watch: Toyota Innova HyCross: First Drive Impressions
Besides these three, Toyota also sells Innova HyCross and Innova Crysta MPVs in India. The Innova HyCross, offered with strong hybrid tech like the HyRyder SUV, comes at a starting price of ₹19.67 lakh and goes up to ₹30.26 lakh (ex-showroom). Maruti Suzuki has launched the rebadged version of the HyCross as Invicto earlier this year. The Innova Crysta and HyCross remain Toyota's best-selling models. The Fortuner SUV is the only other SUV other than HyRyder in Toyota's fleet. The large SUV is priced between ₹33 lakh and ₹50.74 lakh (ex-showroom). The Hilux pickup truck, launched at ₹30.40 lakh, makes up Toyota's lineup in India.