Toyota Etios Touches One Lakh Sales Mark

[anand_953]

Why Etios and Liva are not selling??
Simple, because Toyota isn't able to strike the cord.

The customer of any segment is ready to pay upto +20% for a better product but in the said segment the price factor plays a very important role.
Now if we look at the prices of Etios and Liva and then compare the car overall then we find Etios and Liva like bare bone vehicles as comapred to the competition. Either Toyota decrease the prices or add features, else the cars will sell the same way.[/QUOTE]

You are Bang On ! The major reason why Etios and Liva are not selling as per expectations is because of the wrong price bracket they are in. For the given price, customers would easily be templted to spend an extra 20-30k and go for say a preminum car within the segment with those added features that the Etios siblings are missing.

So the solution for Toyota is very simple - Either do a price correction and make their product more competitive (in a way, giving tough competition to Swift) or improve the interiors and provide more additional features if they want to stay within the same price braket and range. I hope the Toyota board room is listening :)

 

[visran]

Made-in-India Toyota Etios Liva heads to Indonesia in March

The Etios will participate in the Indonesian government’s Low Cost Green Car (LCGC) scheme which offers tax concession if the car adheres to certain norms. It will compete against the Nissan Micra, Honda Brio and Mitsubishi Mirage.
The Etios is expected to be priced at 130-140 million Indonesian Rupiah (6 to 8 lakhs INR) making it the cheapest Toyota that one can buy in Indonesia.


Read more: Made-in-India Toyota Etios Liva heads to Indonesia in March

 

[IndicaDLS2002]

Why Etios and Liva are not selling??
Simple, because Toyota isn't able to strike the cord.

The customer of any segment is ready to pay upto +20% for a better product but in the said segment the price factor plays a very important role.
Now if we look at the prices of Etios and Liva and then compare the car overall then we find Etios and Liva like bare bone vehicles as comapred to the competition. Either Toyota decrease the prices or add features, else the cars will sell the same way.

You are Bang On ! The major reason why Etios and Liva are not selling as per expectations is because of the wrong price bracket they are in. For the given price, customers would easily be templted to spend an extra 20-30k and go for say a preminum car within the segment with those added features that the Etios siblings are missing.

So the solution for Toyota is very simple - Either do a price correction and make their product more competitive (in a way, giving tough competition to Swift) or improve the interiors and provide more additional features if they want to stay within the same price braket and range. I hope the Toyota board room is listening :)

anand_953 (& others),
Since I am still in the wait & watch Diesel Vs Petrol situation in 2013 I have the following question ...

1. Too many differing views on Toyota petrol cars in NVH area! Whats the right picture?

2. Since you say >> "Etios and Liva are not selling as per expectations is because of the wrong price bracket they are in" Does that mean you might have overpaid the 6.25L a little for the Liva which you posted in the other ownership review thread. if yes what is the right price one should pay for this car?

 

[anand_953]

anand_953 (& others),
Since I am still in the wait & watch Diesel Vs Petrol situation in 2013 I have the following question ...

1. Too many differing views on Toyota petrol cars in NVH area! Whats the right picture?

2. Since you say >> "Etios and Liva are not selling as per expectations is because of the wrong price bracket they are in" Does that mean you might have overpaid the 6.25L a little for the Liva which you posted in the other ownership review thread. if yes what is the right price one should pay for this car?

Hi,

No, the price i paid (6.25 lakhs) is not overpriced as i paid this price for the G SP version of petrol liva which includes ABS with EBD and Airbags. Also i had negotiated for Music system within the same price and some other freebies like chrome AC vents, chrome gear shift knobs and fog lamps etc. So overall, in my opinion, this is the fair price for this car with all the above features included.

When its said that its a little over priced, its based on the following criterias - - The V and VX petrol variants are available at a on road bangalore price of 6.97 and 7.50 lakhs (excluding discounts). A prospective buyer would be looking for all cars in this segment and might settle for a Maruti Swift (which is available in the similar price range or less) or might think of purchasing a I20 or polo (a little more than liva but with more interior features etc).
- The range of cars available to a prospective car buyer in this segment is as follows - Swift, I20, polo, liva, punto, fabia, indica Vista, Brio, Jazz, Sail U-AV, Figo, Ritz and to an extend I10.

So given this wide range of choices, where does Liva fit in? Questions like why should a buyer prefer liva over Swift, Ritz, Figo and Brio (which are either less than or equal to the pricing of Liva) or Polo, I20, Fabia, punto etc (which are priced higher to liva by say 20% atlest) work on a buyer's mind. In this game, those looking for premium interior features settle for the likes of I20, polo and fabia by paying a little bit of premium and those looking for a VFM car continue to think of Swift (India's national car :)) as the price is almost similar.

I made up my mind by trusting Toyota's reliability and super after sales services plus premium interior spacing and mileage. Yes, the NVH levels aren't that good like say a polo but still very much acceptable in the price range that liva comes.

 

[Gurrala74]

Hi,

No, the price i paid (6.25 lakhs) is not overpriced as i paid this price for the G SP version of petrol liva which includes ABS with EBD and Airbags. Also i had negotiated for Music system within the same price and some other freebies like chrome AC vents, chrome gear shift knobs and fog lamps etc. So overall, in my opinion, this is the fair price for this car with all the above features included.

When its said that its a little over priced, its based on the following criterias - - The V and VX petrol variants are available at a on road bangalore price of 6.97 and 7.50 lakhs (excluding discounts). A prospective buyer would be looking for all cars in this segment and might settle for a Maruti Swift (which is available in the similar price range or less) or might think of purchasing a I20 or polo (a little more than liva but with more interior features etc).
- The range of cars available to a prospective car buyer in this segment is as follows - Swift, I20, polo, liva, punto, fabia, indica Vista, Brio, Jazz, Sail U-AV, Figo, Ritz and to an extend I10.

So given this wide range of choices, where does Liva fit in? Questions like why should a buyer prefer liva over Swift, Ritz, Figo and Brio (which are either less than or equal to the pricing of Liva) or Polo, I20, Fabia, punto etc (which are priced higher to liva by say 20% atlest) work on a buyer's mind. In this game, those looking for premium interior features settle for the likes of I20, polo and fabia by paying a little bit of premium and those looking for a VFM car continue to think of Swift (India's national car :)) as the price is almost similar.

I made up my mind by trusting Toyota's reliability and super after sales services plus premium interior spacing and mileage. Yes, the NVH levels aren't that good like say a polo but still very much acceptable in the price range that liva comes.

Anand I agree with you completely here, but IMHO I got disappointed for the first time for Toyota which was known for its superb interior quality when I saw etios and liva. And I drove a Liva recently and NVH are bit high to me like Polo diesels and when I tried to close the door, the sound it gave was little irritating to me like the one of M800, it is injustice to such priced car

 

[IndicaDLS2002]

Anand/RK, quick question - probably a silly one - how much use is ABS with EBD & Airbags in a country where roads & traffic within cities is so bad that you barely manage to go beyond speeds of 20kms/per hour. I know these are useful on highways and long drives & in cases of accidents which obviously nobody wants to get into in the first place! & assuming seat belts will do most of the job in such cases. I am wondering if one can opt for an hatchback minus these and get it for around 5L & still not lose much overall on any of the other features?

 

[anand_953]

Anand/RK, quick question - probably a silly one - how much use is ABS with EBD & Airbags in a country where roads & traffic within cities is so bad that you barely manage to go beyond speeds of 20kms/per hour. I know these are useful on highways and long drives & in cases of accidents which obviously nobody wants to get into in the first place! & assuming seat belts will do most of the job in such cases. I am wondering if one can opt for an hatchback minus these and get it for around 5L & still not lose much overall on any of the other features?

Personally speaking, though am not a big fan of Airbags, but i surely find the ABS with EBD to be good to have feature. Ofcourse we an argue on whether it is a must have on Indian roads but given my experience for the past 2.5 months with my liva, i would suggest anyone to go for ABS atlest if not Airbags.

To be very frank, i was not considering the G SP version for myself while selecting the Liva. But at that time, the new biege interiors were available only on variants upward of GSP and above. The G variant was available with the old interior colors. So that made me think about the GSP version and the advantages of having a ABS and Airbags

 

[Gurrala74]

Anand/RK, quick question - probably a silly one - how much use is ABS with EBD & Airbags in a country where roads & traffic within cities is so bad that you barely manage to go beyond speeds of 20kms/per hour. I know these are useful on highways and long drives & in cases of accidents which obviously nobody wants to get into in the first place! & assuming seat belts will do most of the job in such cases. I am wondering if one can opt for an hatchback minus these and get it for around 5L & still not lose much overall on any of the other features?

Hahahahah friend, this is a tricky question to answer in Indian context of road conditions and our daily ride. The answer also exists in your post it self

When I talk about this in some threads, then other members felt that I am against the safety features here, but how many of our regular cars have ABS,EBD and Airbags ??

If ABS and EBD is there then it is a added advantage at extreme braking situations, but when I drive non ABS+EBD car I drive in my limits of braking distance always and at times when something suddenly happens too, the most of the cases the car was in my control to stop. So it depends on one's own driving style here.

All the these ABS and EBD and Airbags come from well developed western countries where road conditions allow you to go in some good speeds about 150+KMPH and yes these are very useful in such roads and speeds.

About air bags whatever I have seen them in the fatal accidents in India they have never saved the lives, may be we have to blame their quality in Indian cars I feel as they are very useful in other countries by saving lives most of the times. So I do not think of these air bags much.

Fundamentally I never relay on the above things much and rather I always try and stick to safe driving, but if other car fellow does a mistake who is behind you or ahead you, then you need to be prepared for such situations and most of the times the strong body of the car helped according to me

All the above is my personal opinion and no offence on these features at all

 

[anand_953]

Anand I agree with you completely here, but IMHO I got disappointed for the first time for Toyota which was known for its superb interior quality when I saw etios and liva. And I drove a Liva recently and NVH are bit high to me like Polo diesels and when I tried to close the door, the sound it gave was little irritating to me like the one of M800, it is injustice to such priced car

Yes i agree. The door doesn't give a thud sound like it gives in I20 or polo when you close it. But for some reason, overall am very happy with this car. The drivability, steering, gear shifts and breaks are top notch. And after doing some research, i wanted ABS and Airbags in my car. So within 6.25 lakhs, this was the only petrol hatchback car with its engine features and power which was within my budget. Other options for me were Figo petrol and Honda Brio with similar power and engine. But again, figo petrol is under powered and i was not a very big fan of those rear looks of brio coupled with a non existent boot space. Given my height of 6.3, cars like I10 and Swift doesnt even come closer in terms of comfort and space inside when compared to liva.

 

[Gurrala74]

Yes i agree. The door doesn't give a thud sound like it gives in I20 or polo when you close it. But for some reason, overall am very happy with this car. The drivability, steering, gear shifts and breaks are top notch. And after doing some research, i wanted ABS and Airbags in my car. So within 6.25 lakhs, this was the only petrol hatchback car with its engine features and power which was within my budget. Other options for me were Figo petrol and Honda Brio with similar power and engine. But again, figo petrol is under powered and i was not a very big fan of those rear looks of brio coupled with a non existent boot space. Given my height of 6.3, cars like I10 and Swift doesnt even come closer in terms of comfort and space inside when compared to liva.

+100 for your choice here !!

But when you say that you are 6.3 and you are comfortable with Liva, but I am 5'10" and the steering was touching my legs there. May be this is due to the tall ratio of human body I feel as most of the times I have noticed some people have longer legs though they have less height and some people have shorter legs though they are 6' foot height. Oh !! God is great who do lot of variations on us

 

[vijay]

The reason i have seen of why toyota not able to sell their Etios sisters as they are able to sell their others cars are, interiors seems inspired from late 80's years, rubber beadings on a 6L + car which costs nothing less then some hundreds, single wiper blade, NHV levels inside the car, overall built quality that it offers.Yes they have given superb diesel and petrol engines, one of the best low end torques in their diesel mill to enjoy driving within the city,steering feedback too is superb and nice to hold, space and space inside for comfortable ride,but with every other manufacturer giving best of the interiors quality,better off the NHV levels and at par with the market in pricing, toyota just cannot go away with quality cuts which shows in these cars.Just because its toyota it wont sell as they expected, why then they had to come up with the new interiors within such short span with this much of offers for these cars.
Just my views and nothing personal to anyone owning either of the Etios.

 

[anand_953]

+100 for your choice here !!

But when you say that you are 6.3 and you are comfortable with Liva, but I am 5'10" and the steering was touching my legs there. May be this is due to the tall ratio of human body I feel as most of the times I have noticed some people have longer legs though they have less height and some people have shorter legs though they are 6' foot height. Oh !! God is great who do lot of variations on us

hehe.. :) ironically, i have long legs and so what i do is completely push the driver seat backwards to upto 95% of its limit. And then it doesn't touch either the steering or dashboard. And given my height, the visibility isn't affected even when i push the seats so back. And the best thing is, even after doing this, a person of my size can easily sit behind me in the rear sit comfortably without touching the front seat. This is where Liva scores big time - Comfort. I tried this in Polo (my almost final choice before Liva) and failed terribly. The rear comfort of polo is something which irks taller people. Also in polo, i found the rear height of the roof bending down which made my head touch the ceiling while sitting back. So with a big and sad heart, i had to say adieu to polo :)

 

[Gurrala74]

hehe.. :) ironically, i have long legs and so what i do is completely push the driver seat backwards to upto 95% of its limit. And then it doesn't touch either the steering or dashboard. And given my height, the visibility isn't affected even when i push the seats so back. And the best thing is, even after doing this, a person of my size can easily sit behind me in the rear sit comfortably without touching the front seat. This is where Liva scores big time - Comfort. I tried this in Polo (my almost final choice before Liva) and failed terribly. The rear comfort of polo is something which irks taller people. Also in polo, i found the rear height of the roof bending down which made my head touch the ceiling while sitting back. So with a big and sad heart, i had to say adieu to polo :)

Yes, for the same reasons and the price I said no to Polo, I never like cramped feeling and always love to have more head room like a SUV. I am very comfortably sit in the driving seat of my Ritz without pulling it back and has very good head room, hence I have gone for it finally though it has good amount of body roll in the corners

 

[anand_953]

The reason i have seen of why toyota not able to sell their Etios sisters as they are able to sell their others cars are, interiors seems inspired from late 80's years, rubber beadings on a 6L + car which costs nothing less then some hundreds, single wiper blade, NHV levels inside the car, overall built quality that it offers.Yes they have given superb diesel and petrol engines, one of the best low end torques in their diesel mill to enjoy driving within the city,steering feedback too is superb and nice to hold, space and space inside for comfortable ride,but with every other manufacturer giving best of the interiors quality,better off the NHV levels and at par with the market in pricing, toyota just cannot go away with quality cuts which shows in these cars.Just because its toyota it wont sell as they expected, why then they had to come up with the new interiors within such short span with this much of offers for these cars.
Just my views and nothing personal to anyone owning either of the Etios.

You perfectly nailed the right reason Vijay. For a 6L + car, you just cannot do away with small things like rubber beadings etc which hardly costs in hundreds. I don't know what was going thorugh their mind in doing this silly cost cutting. Had they taken care of such small shortcomings and maybe charged a few hundreds or thousands more, people would have lapped this car left and right. But alas ! Ofcourse, news is that they are working on this feedback and are going to launch a refreshed Etios sisters soon this year.

 

[Gurrala74]

You perfectly nailed the right reason Vijay. For a 6L + car, you just cannot do away with small things like rubber beadings etc which hardly costs in hundreds. I don't know what was going thorugh their mind in doing this silly cost cutting. Had they taken care of such small shortcomings and maybe charged a few hundreds or thousands more, people would have lapped this car left and right. But alas ! Ofcourse, news is that they are working on this feedback and are going to launch a refreshed Etios sisters soon this year.

+100 buddy, but believe me they must be seriously working on the changes, but once a car gets some image like bad interiors are something, it will take time to erase such things from buyers mind as I have seen the same case with some other cars, hope for Toyota it will be a different story and get succeeded with the changes