[ToyotaFan]

My handle may suggest I am biased towards the brand but it's only based on the fact that I own a Toyota Fortuner and an Innova at the moment and they have been great in the past 13 years I have owned them. I agree with GTO on how these cars are in different segments compared to the yaris and they are now the de facto choice in the segment. If I am in the market to replace my fortuner I would not hesitate in paying 2-3L over a better product (like the endy) if I can get 90% of the same experience.

Coming to the Yaris I agree that it's a tad overpriced but my recent experience with Honda service (I own a 2015 Jazz) and Honda build quality might compel Toyota fan like me to just spend that extra 50k-75k over an equivalent city. The fact that it's a new car and should be in the market for the next 5-7 years also helps. The car may have its shortcomings but I see volumes distributed among all 4 for the time being at least till the 2019 Honda city is out. Considering the Etios twins despite all their shortcomings managed to sell decently (2-2.5k units) for over 7 years amongst intense competition, I foresee the Yaris selling a consistent 3k units and carving a fan following in the segment for itself. The similarity to the corolla which is an aspirational product and the highest selling in its segment may also help.

[400notout]

Originally Posted by VKumar

Etios and Liva are dead because they both shout 'cheap', but Yaris doesn't. I know it's priced higher than the City, but I believe that Toyota has actually played the card quite well, yes the price is a bit high - but it will sell. I am sure that the success story of Innova will remain untouched and probably Yaris will never come close - but it will sell!

+1

Logic is an inefficient tool to measure Toyotas' strategy.

To maintain a "premium image" at no cost can their car be "cheaper" than the competition.

For the value oriented, the Base J CVT at 11.5 OTR and G CVT at 13.81 is still lower/similar than the city V CVT (13.85).

For the top variants if people do pay that much for a Honda, why would Toyota settle for less?

Its a Toyota and an Automatic with some nifty features here and there, if they can sell the Etios twins, they can definitely sell this.

The lack of a diesel will hurt the sales more than the petrols pricing IMO.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by ssm0304

It'll tick all all boxes except for the all-important aesthetics one. This is a car that is unbearably ugly and disproportionate, and with the beautiful (though a little quirky) City to compete with, it'll not win.

Frankly, Toyota isn't known for beautiful shapes. And this is from an ex Honda owner and a long time Toyota owner.

Looks are very subjective. For e.g. I still find the Honda City Type II including face lift which I had (models sold from 1998-2003) the best, hated the 2003-2008 version (AKA Dolphin) I do like the new City though and yes, IMO the City looks better than the Yaris.

But looks are not everything. And guess what TKM and its dealers still treat me very well even though I have a decade old Altis. Try getting the same treatment from a Honda India or their dealers with a "pretty" 10 year old Honda.

If I had to choose between a Honda or a Toyota I'd still take the latter and this is across ANY class/segment. Acura vs Lexus? Heck! A Lexus with my eyes closed!! Peace of mind and good ownership experience rank pretty high on my list of priorities. That, my friend, is what sells a Toyota worldwide.

Originally Posted by VKumar

But my point is: "They have got right set of things in place and on the top is the logo that Indian buyers trust more than even Maruti" If it wasn't a Toyota, had anybody bought:
1) Corolla petrol over Civic, or Elantra?

Hmm, I did buy 2 Corollas; the first a 9G in 2006 and second in 2008 i.e. the newly introduced 10G Altis. Neither the Civic or the Elantra (of the mid 2000s) interested me as an overall package for a family car.

PS - If I were in the market for a C segment sedan today the Yaris would merit very serious consideration. It would be a very close call between the City and the Yaris. The Yaris would win, not for its looks or sporty performance or the lack of it, but solely as a dependable family sedan made by a dependable car manufacturer. I know TKM will have my back for a long time to come.

[navin]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Ofcourse it would for me as an enthusiast and since i am aware of the safety aspects, but for a common car buyer who most often does not even go beyond a 2 km test drive.

I wish Honda and Hyundai offer 50k discounts. It would serve Toyota right for their "arrogant" pricing. But something tells me they (Honda and Hyundai) wont. They will be happy that they can continue to sell thanks to Toyota's pricing strategy.

The Yaris will have a initial bump in sales thank to novelty value which will serve as justification for the bigwigs who produced this pricing strategy. By then all this brouhaha will have died down and no one will care.

My classmates and I are still WhatsApp each other over this. So far we still have 7 of us favourably inclined towards the Yaris if only because we have become a bit tired of Honda's declining After Sales Service (at least in South Mumbai).

[roamer012]

I have visited Toyota's showrooms couple of times (different dealerships) and everytime i go there what i find is common:

1. Top variant of vehicles are usually not available on display rather only base variant or at best the mid variant is available.

2. Sales person pushes you to buy base model since it has on par safety features with that of top model.

3. They are more interested in doing the sales if you are a fleet operator since all the staff and vehicles showcased are conditioned as such.

As far as Yaris is concerned, Toyota has provided 7 airbags in base model, good for them, however had even saftey been the top priority of normal car buyer then even etios would have been flying off of the shelves which is clearly not the case. Comparing this to Innova and Fortuner would not be fair considering both of theirs brand name and street cred as pointed out by others.
Will this work of Toyota - I hope it does so that they do not take such a long time in brining a new(er) model again to India and may be just may be launch a better suited or rather a complete car (in respect of pricing, space/features and performance).
Will it be a runaway success - I dont think so considering the fate of all thier sedans and hatches no matter how good they are safetywise.
Plus apart from Innova and Fortuner toyota has some how always ended up plonking a weaker engine in their vehicles viz Liva, Etios and Corrolla (Diesel). Dont know about Camry however it also has never been named with the likes of Octavia, Superb, Jetta etc. Even in the case of Yaris, major gripe is with the engine as suugested by Mods who have driven this, people can survive with bit of cramped space however one back to back drive with the rivals and matter might be decided swiftly.

[Mad Max]

While we are all pining on what the Yaris could be and what's wrong with it, the average Indian customer is going "here.. hold my beer.. "

I foresee a fantastic run for this car. Just because it looks modern (looks are subjective, period), has the Toyota badge and as always, a few gimmicks here and there. While we fret over the arrogance of sales staff, the lack of features or the pricing, for the average family, none of this matters. We say it's 1L more than what it should be? It's about 2000 Rs extra for a 5 year loan (?). It won't even register with someone who's cross shopping.

I hope they have given enough legroom in the back since a lot of these could be either taxis or chauffeur driven. I also foresee this car being the #metoo for the Toyota brand with potential Corolla buyers going a step down and buying this just because it's new and it's got the Toyota looks.

[RoverX]

The Yaris is definitely overpriced, but I won't exactly go so far as to say that the pricing makes it DoA. The ideal thing would've been to slot the prices in between the Verna and the City to kill two birds in a shot (especially in the V and VX trim).

But I believe there's more thought behind the pricing that meets the eye. Toyota might be making room to accommodate the rebranded Baleno and Brezza (stemming from the Suzuki-Toyota partnership) in it's line-up. Because the compact SUV based on the Brezza (with a Toyota badge) would significantly eat into the sedan's sales. Also, these two being primarily Suzuki products won't be perceived on par with the usual Toyota quality standards, which makes the Yaris carry the responsibility of establishing a premium image in this price range, too!

[VKumar]

Originally Posted by ToyotaFan

I foresee the Yaris selling a consistent 3k units

Being a 'petrol only' car (Though it can do wonders with a diesel motor), 3k is quite a respectable figure and my bet is also more or less same.

Originally Posted by 400notout

For the top variants if people do pay that much for a Honda, why would Toyota settle for less?

If it isn't broke then why fix?
If people are happily willing to pay them without offering a sunroof, then why bother offering one? Look at their offerings, they offer one neither in Corolla, nor in Crysta nor in Fortuner and customers don't ask for one either.

Its a Toyota and an Automatic with some nifty features here and there, if they can sell the Etios twins, they can definitely sell this.

This time sales teams will be under pressure, the rival is quite strong.

The lack of a diesel will hurt the sales more than the petrols pricing IMO.

This indeed would have been wonderful with the same 1.4 doing duty under the hood as the one in the Corolla.

Originally Posted by R2D2

But looks are not everything. And guess what TKM and its dealers still treat me very well even though I have a decade old Altis. Try getting the same treatment from a Honda India or their dealers with a "pretty" 10 year old Honda.

I even had the Toyota service adviser deliver my car to me at 9:30 pm solely because both my Toyotas were in A.S.S., and I needed the car in an emergency, they worked on one and gave it to me. I doubt the Honda guys will be courteous enough ever - heck, I doubt if they will ever offer me Toyota level service in first place.

Hmm, I did buy 2 Corollas; the first a 9G in 2006 and second in 2008 i.e. the newly introduced 10G Altis. Neither the Civic or the Elantra (of the mid 2000s) interested me as an overall package for a family car

Same story, 2 Innovas and one Corolla diesel, one Toyota is a must for my garage always.

The Yaris would win, not for its looks or sporty performance or the lack of it, but solely as a dependable family sedan made by a dependable car manufacturer. I know TKM will have my back for a long time to come.

And that's the reason I am quite sure that Yaris will sell for the price it is launched at. When it comes to Toyota, Indian buyers look at them with a different eye as compared to other brands, Honda has already diluted themselves enough that nobody keeps them in the Toyota category now, in fact I have read on the same forum that "Hyundai is the new Honda".

Yaris is priced high, I agree - it is stupendously priced. But when I look at the brand backing this car and my past experience with the same. I won't hesitate in spending on this Toyota if I need a car in that segment.

[autorahul]

Originally Posted by 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.

Ciaz provided the perfect blueprint for Toyota on how to enter the segment with a bang. But instead of that, they used City blueprint, which is only relevant if you have ruled the segment for 15 years. Apart from the base variant, no other variant seems worth giving a look. I am not writing it off yet, but I doubt this will be able to sustain a fight against the likes of Verna, leave alone the City.

Now, I guess we have to wait for the 1.5 Ciaz with the 100+ BHP engine from Indonesian Eritga to cause some worry in the segment.

[revintup]

On the road prices, Kerala

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by revintup

On the road prices, Kerala

In Kerala J and J CVT has the advantage of being under 10L so roadtax will be 8%. Rest of the Yaris line-up will be under 10% slab.

Vehicle+ road tax + registration. Excluded insurance and TGA since the former can be bought outside and the latter is not essential.
J CVT = 10,75,750/-
G CVT = 12,94,750/-
Difference = 2,19,000/- (With insurance the gap widens a little; by 5 grands if Toyota insurance).
(Ex showroom difference = 1,81,000/-)

[Hemicuda]

I think it is not overpriced on the contrary its a very good strategy.
To be very frank the car in its sedan form atleast looks hideous. But people will still buy it.The kind of people who dont want to look beyond a Toyota, maybe already have a fortuner want a smaller car but not a Corolla cause its too big.
I am not saying there is a huge number of such people but enough to give the numbers for Toyota and eat into Honda's share at some level.They are not cutting down on the quality or safety aspect so no one can point fingers in that area , it will only help Toyota build their brand presence in a wider segment. Pave the way for future products.

[RM Motorsports]

Price comparison with the competition

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by Sudeep_Kimster

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?

They are not going to get in the diesel, any time soon.
In case they launch the diesel, going by their horrific pricing strategies, their competitor could be the Maruti Corolla. (MSIL could price the Corolla very competitively and offer it at similar prices as that of top end models of the Yaris)

[PrasunBannerjee]

Toyota had lot of catching up to do, and still does. Riding on success of Innova, fortuner and older Corolla, they are going overconfident and simply put, blind. First they are confident enough to launch the D segment leader in diesel guise 'without' an infotainment system for 23 odd lakh rupees (where diesel brings in most of the sales than the petrol). They bring in utterly boring Etios twins, and now they have a car, without a diesel engine, where all its pros are against it for the price it demands. As I said before, 15+ lac car holds a snob value in India, and providing a kiddish key for the car (even 5 lac Tiago and Figo provides better ones) Honda can easily step over it.

I see Toyota repeating a Ford here when they launched the facelifted fiesta. However, they still stand a chance compared to Ford, due to the reliable image that Toyota carries. Apart from that face, and 7 airbags, for me no other feature is something which will want me to choose Yaris over vento, rapid, leave aside Verna.

So, all in all, congratulations to Honda and Hyundai. Toyota, all the best, start planning for your next sedan, hope it will be better in every aspect. Till then compete with VAG twins; and Maruti, don't poke your nose in this thread, you don't even need to care.