[Kosfactor]

The current XL6 looks like it was meant to ship with a Toyota badge, why market another car of the same kind?!

The current Ertiga meanwhile is a lot of Innova for the money, may the best product win. (Secretly hoping that it's Maruti).

[Fuldagap]

World's no.1 company joining hands with India's no.1 company. The decision may not be as gloomy as it has come out to be with the masses. Toyota gets a taste of selling smaller cars, of which MS is a champ and MS gets to taste selling the Corolla along with future proofing itself with all the expertise that Toyota has at making electric cars. IMO this could be a win-win situation for both. Both are trying to do what others have previously failed at and given the competencies of both the brands it is likely that this sharing of tech and platforms or using rebadged versions of each other's products, a case study for management gurus is in the making.

No wonder that the shareholders of MS have already punished the stock when this thing started, it was around 9k then and around 6k now. Time will only tell how far this friendship goes and what fruits it bears.

[gururajrv]

I will think of opening a dealership to get Maruti cars without any branding on them and I’ll put it up for sale with a lot of customisation options for customers to choose from:

1) Grille options - pick either Toyota / Maruti
2) Alloy hub caps - Toyota / Maruti branded caps
3) Steering Horn Pad - Toyota / Maruti branded one
4) or even mix match the brandings inside & out. Show your friends you bought a Toyota from outside & have Maruti branding all inside.
5) Engine top cover can be customised too!

The list will go on & on. Japanese are very good with making products and they tie up together for giving clients a lot of customisations to opt from isn’t it?! This is a lame strategic partnership these 2 guys have gotten into & is boring us to the core.

Thank you MSIL & Toyota!

Regards

RV

[discoverwild]

The title "Maruti Ertiga-based Toyota MPV launch in 2021" is so misleading. It should read "Toyota to launch Maruti Ertiga: Badging to be revealed next year".

[Akash86M]

Have Toyota given up on India as market? Rather than launching a fine product from there international line up they are launching rebadged maruti cars. Atleast VW - Skoda , Nissan-Renault tried to make changes in similar products to call them there own. Future is not bright for Toyota if they are thinking of milking on Fortuner, Innova success and launching these rebadged cars just to fill there portfolios.

[manjunathkl]

Toyota being world number 1 in mass-market cars, hasn't been able own the Indian market like they do in the rest of the world, not even close. The only reason for it is - Toyota always thought Indians don't deserve many premium cars as they "cannot afford" one. Right from its first launch of Qualis, that has been the attitude. Corolla and Camry were priced so high only because they thought it cannot become a volume player, so they wanted to extract a good margin from a few rich Indians. Qualis saw good success and evolved into Innova and now Crysta. But by the time 2020 arrived, people are bored with Innova. Toyota had slept nicely all these years instead of doing R&D. All this while Toyota's loyal customer base has shifted to other exciting brands. With the retirement of Etios twins, Toyota-world's largest automaker doesn't have a single volume player in their India portfolio (Let that sink in a bit). What else can they do now, tie-up with someone else? That's exactly what happened.

Launching Velfire is just to make a statement. They know it will sell in 2 digits per month or less.

And calling this partnership "strategic" is just to make them look better. It is like when you forgot to cook, and it is already lunchtime, you order from Swiggy. So, I call it a "convenient" partnership rather than strategic.

Maruti has nothing to lose. They have always been a sales champion. If because of Toyota's bad situation, they can add a few more sales on their charts, its well and good. They know that customers who buy Totota badged Maruti cars, when they have to upgrade will consider Maruti cars more. So, really speaking Toyota needs Maruti more than Maruti needs Toyota. The only thing Maruti doesn't have is the Diesel engine expertise. Toyota has it, but their existing engines are old outdated non-BS6 ones. If Diesel market sticks on post BS6, Maruti can make use of Toyota's expertise and import diesel engines. Plus psychologically, they don't want Hyundai-Kia to undermine its stature. So if Hyundai has a partnership with a more premium brand, so does Maruti. It is like an insurance policy Maruti has bought.

Neither Maruti nor Toyota will gobble-up the other. Neither of them will offer any exciting products in the near future at least.

[landcruiser123]

Lazy effort by Toyota. Hyundai and Toyota started their Indian arm around the same time. It took nearly 20 years for Toyota to realize that they need to get cheaper models to expand their business in India. Wonder how the result would be today if Toyota looked to bring their mass market models into India much earlier?

Clearly a case of lost time.

[gautam109]

Originally Posted by Thermodynamics

I am genuinely worried, If Toyota is going to eat into MSIL sales, this would be a sheer injustice to shareholders. God knows, what is the strategy of MSIL to increase short term profits, the shares haven’t recovered since two years.

Valid concern for an MSIL shareholder. My hope is that the royalty MSIL gets from each re-badge sale by Toyota is close to the profits that MSIL makes per car it sells under own brand. Given that any fees received from Toyota is "straight to bottom-line" for MSIL (zero incremental costs or investments), that may well be the case

For Toyota too, the fee paid is worth it, in form of R&D dollars saved. So a classic "win-win".
AND if MSIL can plough the royalties into a bigger R&D budget for next-gen products, it might just prove very value-accretive for MSIL shareholders.

The obvious risk is that Toyota eats into MSIL's mkt-share, causing lasting damage to the franchise. I'm sure Nexa-dealers hate the strategy. Then again, if / when MSIL starts sending them re-badged Toyotas to sell, they might undergo a change of heart too.

[Sree_KL25]

Originally Posted by Sree_KL25

I guess Maruti is planning different strategy than other manufacturers.

1. Diesel engines are expensive with BS6 and petrol dominates in small cars
2. Ertiga and Brezza might move to Toyota, these are the only cars in Maruti Portfolio which sells more diesels than petrol.
3. Swift Hybrid's claimed mileage is 32 km/l. Maruti might be planning for hybrids for all their cars?

Clearly Maruti shifting to Petrol/Petrol-Hybrid only for future and it is a good strategy

Movement was in news for some time. Why does Toyota delay it too much?

[fache89]

From what I learnt from sources at Maruti is that Toyota will be renaming/rebranding Baleno, Brezza and Ertiga while Maruti would get Corolla. So watch out for Maruti Corolla very soon.

That said, this is done as it will help make Toyota penetrate mass market segment with some success and in return Maruti will get tech on Electric vehicles from Toyota. The end result will be that Toyota taking over Maruti Suzuki once and forever.

[rajshenoy]

A premium hatch, able MPV and a sub 4m SUV can give toyota a monthly sales figure of over 10K cars but i am not sure how/what maruti/suzuki is gaining so far. I doubt if this cross badging is resulting in any additional sales. It may be of some help in better utilisation of Toyota facilities. But since Glanza is not even made at toyota plant, it is only sales and service network only. It may change if they also make use of idle manufacturing plant capacity to make Brezza and Ertiga.

Coming back to Toyota brand quality, adding a Toyota badge to a Maruti is as reliable as hanging a "nimbu mirchi"

NOTE: Nothing wrong with Toyota or Maruti suzuki quality as such. I have been a happy owner of both brands. But i wouldn't buy a Maruti from toyota just because of toyota quality

[mohan41]

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

A premium hatch, able MPV and a sub 4m SUV can give toyota a monthly sales figure of over 10K cars but i am not sure how/what maruti/suzuki is gaining so far. I doubt if this cross badging is resulting in any additional sales. It may be of some help in better utilisation of Toyota facilities. But since Glanza is not even made at toyota plant, it is only sales and service network only. It may change if they also make use of idle manufacturing plant capacity to make Brezza and Ertiga.

Coming back to Toyota brand quality, adding a Toyota badge to a Maruti is as reliable as hanging a "nimbu mirchi"

NOTE: Nothing wrong with Toyota or Maruti suzuki quality as such. I have been a happy owner of both brands. But i wouldn't buy a Maruti from toyota just because of toyota quality

Agree about quality. But we are losing out on safety. Some toyota cars come with 7 airbags including a knee airbag (Crysta and Yaris) but none of the maruti cars come with that option. If Toyota launched Rush 7 seater with full safety features, we would have a good safe alternative to Ertiga, for example.

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by mohan41

Agree about quality. But we are losing out on safety. Some toyota cars come with 7 airbags including a knee airbag (Crysta and Yaris) but none of the maruti cars come with that option.

I Agree. With the savings in R&D costs itself, they can try and offer these features.

I highly doubt on Toyota bringing any more global products(in entry segment). Almost everyone are customising their strategy and launching India specific models to compete with Maruti

[Venkatesh]

Toyota Ertiga MPV India launch likely by August this year.





Source

[DebarshiSharma]

I would really love the "Qualis" brand to return with this vehicle.
The rumored feature addition including 6 airbags, bigger wheels, wireless charging will be major plus.