[GTO]

Top-end variants are more expensive than the already-expensive City . Even otherwise, the pricing is on par or higher. Toyota has gone mad! When you are fighting the segment leader of 20 years, you have to be better prepared. The Yaris doesn't have the engine, transmission (CVT), performance or space to match the City. Yes, it has an impressive safety / feature list, but that's not enough (Verna gets cooled seats & the City isn't exactly stripped bare with its 6 airbags & sunroof!).

I had frankly thought they'll price it on par with the Verna, or between the Verna & the City.

Whoever is in charge of Toyota's pricing strategy deserves to be fired. This is the exact reason why greedy Toyota isn't able to sell anything other than utility vehicles in India. You can overprice an Innova because of its sheer brand equity & relative lack of competition, but not a new mass market sedan. Their first shot at the volumes hatchback & sedan segment was messed up by old products (Liva & Etios). Now, it's the pricing. Sure, the Yaris will still sell because the segment itself has good volumes & brand "T" is a magnet, but nowhere close to its potential. Not to forget, it doesn't have a diesel either. What a botched up launch. Toyota hasn't done its homework this time around.

A trend we've seen over the last 2 - 3 years is that nearly all new products are competitively priced (some have pleasantly surprised us!), be it hatchbacks, sedans or even CBUs. Sure doesn't look like Toyota has been reading the news.

City Prices. Honda & Hyundai are throwing big parties tonight at their HQ!

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Toyota Yaris has been launched at Rs 8.75 lakhs, ex-showroom India.

=====

ACI

Sensible pricing by Toyota i think. Definitely they are roughly same as City. (City ZX Ex-showroom around 14L here in BLR)

J CVT for sure is way cheaper considering the fact that Honda only offers CVT in V trim only. Not sure how loaded the J trim is, but it can eat into Ciaz, Verna etc. while the higher trims are targeting Honda city VX and ZX

Originally Posted by GTO

Top-end variants are more expensive than the City . Even otherwise, the pricing is on par or more expensive. Toyota has gone mad! When you are fighting the segment leader of 20 years, you have to be better prepared.

City Prices. Honda is throwing a big, big party tonight at their HQ!
Attachment 1755480

Well i expected them to price it much higher !! I dont know how much J variant will sell but it surely looks like a carrot to bring customers to showroom.

[Vid6639]

Fellow moderator Aditya and myself drove the Yaris last weekend.

With the above prices I am deeply disappointed and quite frankly stunned into disbelief.

After driving the Yaris, the opinion was very clear that this car was not perfect. The only way we saw it get numbers against the City was being priced below it, maybe just above the Verna if not on par.

Exterior design it looked smaller than City, with a narrower feel. The City looked like a larger car in front of the Yaris. Yaris styling was not as flamboyant as City. Completely inoffensive. Infact driving it for an entire saturday, nobody even gave it a second look despite it being driven around a crowded Bangalore airport.

When you get inside, the feeling was similar. Everything is built really well but the design didn't look premium or luxurious. It will probably fare in the long run better but it felt unassuming. Rear seat space was good and seats were comfortable but it was lesser than the City when it came to legroom, headroom and width of the rear bench.

Some features expected in this segment were shockingly missing. No Auto dimming IRVM even in top spec, no telescopic steering adjust, no dead pedal for CVT, not a single fancy LED light except for the DRL and tail lamps.

The 7 airbags, rear disc brakes, front parking sensor and the unique rear AC blower fan are the highlight but noways make it worth more than a City.

The City gets telescopic steering, 6 airbags, all LED lighting package and sunroof for 30K lesser than the top end YAris!!!

The biggest disappointment however was the engine. With the CVT, the performance was average. Again the City CVT and i-VTEC motor combo was superior to the Yaris. And oh boy is the rubber band effect prominent on the Yaris. I was surprised with this as the same CVT unit performed way way better in the Altis with the 1.8L motor. With the 1.5L in the YAris it was rubber band effect anytime you thought of pressing the A pedal with a heavy prod.

The 1.5L motor has decent low end but is flat after that. In MT guise, it is a lot better and more fun to drive. The gearbox is really nice but again the weak link is the Engine. The engine NVH also could have been better as it doesn't like to be revved as well as gets vocal above 4000rpm.

What is good is the dynamics and suspension setup. Ride quality is very superior to the City and can take on any road conditions without transmitting much into the cabin. It doesn't ride like a Japanese car. It's firm but very well damped. As a result it doesn't do too bad even in the handling department. The steering lets it down in feel but the suspension is setup very nicely. The all round disc brakes give it fantastic braking. The MT brakes were brilliant. The CVT braking was also good but not as good as the MT.

Cabin NVH and insulation is also very good with the outside environment getting sealed off completely when you close the doors and roll up the windows.

The Yaris would have been a rockstar if it was even 60-80K below the City right in the middle of Verna and City. With this pricing I can only see some really loyal Toyota fans going for it.

Toyota seems to be thinking that the T badge, 7 airbags across the variants means they can price it however they like. There seems to be some thinking that being a Toyota customers are expected to pay more as the cars command higher resale and when the buyer goes to sell 5-7 years down the line he will get the money back. This logic I do not get.

[serious_maniac]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Toyota Yaris has been launched at Rs 8.75 lakhs, ex-showroom India.
======
ACI

On the lower variants side, people who will buy Yaris will buy it for CVT and safety - which Ciaz, Verna and City dont offer at <10L. Higher variants will find the going tough against City. Features available in J and G variant will decide the success of Yaris.

I think Toyota has played well to target urban buyers with better safety spec and CVT available in all variants. I do hope that the competitors respond by offering safety as an optional pack in all variants.

~m

[SPARKled]

The Honda City has spoilt the party with its nonsensical pricing when they launched the updated City. Toyota is only meeting the price bar set by the City. The lower versions especially he G is all one needs for most of the bells and whistles while the top variants are over priced as expected. The top variants lurk dangerously into larger MPV and Pseudo SUV prices so will be slow sellers. But I expect the J and G variants to be decent sellers.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by serious_maniac

On the lower variants side, people who will buy Yaris will buy it for CVT and safety

Honda & Hyundai can beef up their safety features a lot easier than Toyota can cut prices now. Toyota has shown its cards and it's not a pretty sight.

Lest we forget, Hyundai has a killer arsenal in its line-up that neither Honda nor Toyota do - a Diesel Automatic! Variant to variant, it's priced in the ballpark of the Yaris CVT (doesn't have a base though). Trust me, the Verna diesel engine & transmission are WAY superior to the rubberband-inflicted CVT of the Yaris. And we haven't even gotten discussing the fuel efficiency of a Diesel AT vs Petrol AT!

[Simhi]

I still don't see the official website updated with prices or variant details. I called up Shaw Toyota (Pune) just now and they said prices are yet to be revealed though vehicle is available for test drive.

If we go with ACI prices, I think the pricing is spot on. They have targeted Honda City V with G variant and ZX with VX variants. I am mainly looking at Automatic variant prices.

[serious_maniac]

Originally Posted by GTO

Honda & Hyundai can beef up their safety features a lot easier than Toyota can cut prices now. Toyota has shown its cards and it's not a pretty sight.

Lest we forget, Hyundai has a killer arsenal in its line-up that neither Honda nor Toyota do - a Diesel Automatic! Variant to variant, it's priced in the ballpark of the Yaris CVT (doesn't have a base though). Trust me, the Verna diesel engine & transmission are WAY superior to the rubberband-inflicted CVT of the Yaris. And we haven't even gotten discussing the fuel efficiency of a Diesel AT vs Petrol AT!

Agreed. We as consumers stand to gain, if Hyundai and Honda start providing safety and AT from lower variants the market will mature faster. Very good for consumers and overall safety profile of Indian cars and this will be the most interesting and best outcome from this launch.

Once the equipment list is out I still think J and G variants may be able to hold their own against the City. I havent seen the vehicle yet but if space is like Verna people may choose City as space is a very important criterion for choosing an Executive sedan.

I do hope that Yaris sells decent numbers for manufacturers to take safety and AT seriously. Good for customers. Now hope Ciaz will bring in safety features and AT in lower variants as well.

Edit : if J variant is equipped well with things that cannot be added after market then that is the choice of variant. Bells and whistles like 2 din system can always be added.

~m

[vb-saan]

Not sure if I have to call this unimaginative or silly!

They would have really got an advantage in the playing field even if the pricing was a few 1000s lesser than the key petrol rival City. Instead what they did – played the superiority complex card with costs slightly higher than the City (variant-to-variant). It’s like losing the game on paper; the cost disadvantage itself can keep people away from the showrooms.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by serious_maniac

On the lower variants side

Have you seen the lower variants of any Toyota cars? Take the 25L on-road Innova Crysta base variant for example and you will be shocked into disbelief seeing the missing features and buttons. It doesn't even get a headunit.

Urban crowd will not get into those variants for sure.

[Rajeevraj]

Sad to see how manufacturers are running away with the pricing. One puts out an unrealistic price, then another comes and beats that and makes the first one look value for money, the first one then does a 'refresh' and goes higher and the cycle continues... Won't be long before the OTR for the C segment top variants start to hit 20L. :(

Surprised with the Yaris pricing, expected it to under cut the City by a good margin at least in the form of 'Introductory Pricing'. Would be interesting to see if the customer falls for the 'Toyota' factor this time.

Becoming abundantly clear at least to me that pre-owned is the way to go going forward. I would not want to pay so much for any of these C Segmenters.

[Sudeep_Kimster]

To be frank I quite expected them to launch it with much higher pricing, knowing TKM by their marketing standards. I think pricing seems ok.
Will have a few flock the dealers, just to see what is on offer from Toyota Brand.

Now that they priced it lower than my expectations, personally I am surprised that they didn't undercut the established cars like Verna/City(undercutting Ciaz would have been improssible). And a price hike is imminent in near future, considering these are dubbed introductory prices.
And again,
If suppose they plan to get in the diesel, they will nudge 19-20lakhs OTR. Whom are they planning to compete at that price?

[Jaggu]

I have sat in this car and has spent a whole afternoon around and inside it, not much of driving apart from moving it front and back One thing i can say is, it has all the Toyota traits, it feels solid and not compromised. Vidyut's post also confirms on all the positives i noticed. Honda on the other hand is tin can and hyundais as a brand will burn you in the long run.

Coming back to the pricing, well they started at the right place for the low end model, but 18 Lakhs OTR for a top end CVT? You must be joking or plain stupid!

[vsrivatsa]

While it would have been good to have priced the car lower to the City, that would have positioned the Toyota Brand as being inferior/lower in position to the Honda brand. And I think this is something they did not want to do - so in my opinion it is an acceptable move...

Given that the sales of the Automatics is on the rise, Toyota is offering the advantage of CVT at the lower variants. Another fact is that Toyota vehicles are low on maintenance - so we can safely say that the ongoing maintenance costs on the Yaris would be lower than the City and the Verna for sure. As I have not actually sat in the car, I am not sure how the rear seats feel in comparison to the City. The reviews seem to say that it is better than the Verna...

If the sales number ends up being second to City also, Toyota would be happy with their higher margins...Let us see how this 4 horse race evolves in the coming months...

[nikipedia87]

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

Given that the sales of the Automatics is on the rise, Toyota is offering the advantage of CVT at the lower variants...

...As I have not actually sat in the car, I am not sure how the rear seats feel in comparison to the City. The reviews seem to say that it is better than the Verna...

OT: The newly launched Amaze's pricing might make things more interesting. Though it's a segment lower than the Yaris and won't come with the same engine and safety features, it packs serious amount of space in the interior and is quite a looker. The iVTEC engine is also peppier owing to the lower weight.

The higher variants of the petrol Amaze (V MT, V CVT & VX MT) might overlap with the J variants of the Yaris.