[RavenAvi]

Close on the heels of the news that Toyota will be launching Daihatsu cars in India by 2019, comes this set of spy photos by a Carwale reader who has captured the Perodua Axia on camera in Mumbai for the very first time on Indian soil.

The Perodua Axia is a rebadged version of the Indonesia-specific Daihatsu Ayla. Since this particular car was loaded with testing equipment, it's very possible that Toyota has started carrying tests on the components of the Axia, which it shares with the Ayla.

Perodua Axia, a small budget Malaysian car, was seen taking rounds undisguised in Mumbai. However, the car was equipped with testing equipment hinting at some tests being carried out.

Power comes from a 1.0-litre three-cylinder all-aluminium petrol engine, which comes paired either to a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic transmission. This mill churns out 65.71bhp of power and 90Nm of torque.

But what is this car doing on Indian roads? On further analysis, it came to light that the Axia is a rebadged version of the Indonesia-spec Daihatsu Ayla.

the carmaker might be testing components of the Axia hatchback, which it shares with the Daihatsu’s small car. These tests might form the base for a concrete plan of bringing up a product in India within a span of few years.

Source

[RSR]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

The Perodua Axia is a rebadged version of the Indonesia-specific Daihatsu Ayla. Since this particular car was loaded with testing equipment, it's very possible that Toyota has started carrying tests on the components of the Axia, which it shares with the Ayla.

That's a big catch!

The Axia/Ayla looks like a direct competitor to the Maruti Suzuki Celerio. It remains to be seen whether this car will carry the three-dimensional T logo or the two-dimensional D one, but one thing is certain.

Competition is certainly hotting up in the lower segments!

Maruti Suzuki has dominated these segments like a colossus with multiple offerings, Hyundai is a distant second, and Tata has a resurgent presence now. The only other manufacturer to have tried their hand in these segments is Chevrolet (but sadly, they're going down rapidly). This was the case till recently. But no longer!

First Nissan/Datsun, then Renault and now Toyota/Daihatsu! All three have shown that they are no longer hesitant to devote the attention this space deserves.

That can only be a great thing! Strong new competition will keep the existing players on their toes and the customer will be the ultimate beneficiary.

God bless competition!

[Sutripta]

What about Toyota's wait and watch policy w.r.t. India?

Regards
Sutripta

[Aditya]

Perodua Axia (Diahatsu Ayla) spotted testing in Mumbai - posts moved to a new thread.

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

What about Toyota's wait and watch policy w.r.t. India?

Off-Topic:

They have removed their self-imposed embargo on Indian investments, after the Supreme Court removed the 8-month diesel ban in the Delhi/NCR region.

More India-specific Toyota products are in the offing, as are the Indian entries of Lexus and Daihatsu brands in the next 2-3 years. (link)

[GTO]

I don't think this is Toyota or anyone else officially testing any car. The number-plate is a giveaway. It's a car from a neighbouring country merely passing through India, like we've seen innumerable times before - related link.

[saion666]

Maybe it's a Kuala Lumpur number plate. In that case not sure if it's simply passing through Mumbai.

BTW it looks like the twin brother of the Celerio!!

[fx45]

Looks like a private one, mostly on Carnet or something. Good catch for sure, and timely!

[thefuturist]

Looks like the car is doing the rounds in Bangalore now - spotted it at a local garage next to my office yesterday where I had dropped my car for a quick wash after our recent trip to Goa.

The car was parked in one corner and there were a bunch of Japs hanging around the workshop. Initially I thought they were on some field trip but then my curiosity got perked up on seeing the car with the exotic license plate and test equipment strapped all around.

One of the SAs I have befriended at the workshop said that they were testing the car for Indian road conditions, but he was not sure (or did not divulge) what they were doing at the workshop. When asked, he merely mentioned that he was not aware as they were speaking only Japanese, with only one of the guys interfacing with them in English.

I was not aware of the Perodua brand and was wondering whether the P could stand for the Proton as they had plans of launching their models in India sometime back.

When I came around the car, I was impressed at it's stance and dimensions. The subtle curves and the straight body lines render solidity to the near-industrial design. It's rather wide than the current A-segment offerings (the SA said it's similar to the now withdrawn A-star though the engine power was sub-par), and the shape and size instantly reminded me of the Nissan Micra. It seemed to be quite a mature offering, with LED tail lamps and integrated twin parking sensors at the back.

On pressing the SA, he open the front door for me and I caught a quick glimpse of the interiors amongst the maze of equipment and wires inside. And now that I remember, I thought I saw only 2 pedals in the foot well, so even the cheapest model in Malaysia is an Automatic

I could not help but notice a few things:

• The interior space, though quite spartan and all black, is cavernous
• The Perodua logo is remarkably of the same shape and dimensions as that of Toyota. In fact the Axia name (the Corolla Axio used to be a common sight when I was in Singapore) along with the logo made me think it was a rebadged Toyota. Maybe it was intentional on the part of Perodua to easily badge engineer the Toyotas
• I was marvelling at the amount of local intelligence that the Japanese team was moving with. How on earth can total strangers to a city figure out a nondescript workshop tucked away neatly in one of the many bylanes of south Bangalore?

BTW, the car has already been welcomed by the Indian bikers. I noticed a 6 inch long straight dent over the rear wheel arch

I managed to take a pic on the sly - you can notice the GPS antenna on the right side of the roof and a camera hooked to the rear windshield.

[thefuturist]

Here's the spec sheet for the G trim model that I could yank off from a Malaysian website...

http://www.carbase.my/perodua/axia/m...-g-1.0-at-2016

The Axia being the cheapest car in Malaysia, one can clearly see from the specs sheet that even Malaysia is viewed as a mature market by the car makers. The Indian market might have been intensely price sensitive a decade back, but now the average car buyer looks more for value. At least it's good to see that a few manufacturers like Renault have realized this of late, and are focusing on value and not cost with one of their latest offerings.

Hopefully if the Axia is ever launched here, it will retain all the trim levels of the Malaysian model.

[raaj.bhalla]

Just out of the topic and for some humor, I was wondering if the Japanese have been pulled over for non KA registration number. 😂

[RSR]

Originally Posted by raaj.bhalla

Just out of the topic and for some humor, I was wondering if the Japanese have been pulled over for non KA registration number.

That's a good one! Continuing in the same lighter vein, the Japanese can thank their lucky stars that this particular Malaysian number plate on the Perodua actually begins with WB (and not TN)!

On a more serious note, it does seem this car is a decoy import by Toyota/Daihatsu! Why else would they want to import a Perodua Axia, which is basically a badge-engineered version of their own cars - the Daihatsu Ayla and Toyota Agya?

Toyota do sell their own version of the Daihatsu Ayla in Indonesia, and it's called the Toyota Agya:





Toyota Agya, Daihatsu Ayla and Perodua Axia are basically badge-engineered triplets.

There is more than a passing resemblance to the Celerio. It's also very interesting to note that the Toyota Agya has exactly the same length and width as the Maruti Suzuki Celerio. The Celerio is taller by 20 mm but the Agya's wheelbase is longer by 25 mm. The petrol engine specs of the two are also quite similar. This leaves almost no doubt about the segment that Toyota/Daihatsu are aiming for!

[AutoNoob]

Originally Posted by thefuturist

Looks like the car is doing the rounds in Bangalore now - spotted it at a local garage next to my office...

One of the SAs I have befriended at the workshop said that they were testing the car for Indian road conditions, but he was not sure (or did not divulge) what they were doing at the workshop...

Where is this garage ? Is it having any tie-up or relationship with Toyota, as it will be very strange for this test car to stop at an unknown garage.

[RSR]

Originally Posted by RSR

Toyota Agya, Daihatsu Ayla and Perodua Axia are basically badge-engineered triplets.

As with other badge-engineered triplets, the Agya-Ayla-Axia trio perform very similarly in the ASEAN-NCAP crash tests.

The Indonesian Toyota Agya with 2 airbags got a good 4* AOP safety rating (just like the Daihatsu Ayla and the Malaysian Perodua Axia):

http://youtu.be/hrhn3KRBVgY

The Daihatsu Ayla with no airbag, on the other hand, got a 1* AOP safety rating:

http://youtu.be/nq1_IXdAWRU

I hope the car is introduced in India with 2 standard airbags, ABS etc., just like every other Toyota model on sale in India.

[kkstile]

I happened to spot this same car today in a company owned (L&T I think) garage in Manyata Tech Park with few Jap-looking guys fidgeting around and taking few readings. The bonnet was open and I could get a glimpse of the engine with "12 valve DOHC" imprinted, so it looks like a 3-pot 1-liter engine. The car was completely undisguised with no number plates on.

Interiors looked quite upmarket and it had alloys as well. Dimensions are similar to Celerio I think. Before I could get my phone out to get a snap, I was ushered out by some official saying "sir, it's confidential, we cant disclose any information!"

By the looks of it, perhaps they have started road tests!