[wheelguy]

Toyota-badged Ertiga MPV launch scheduled for August 2021. It will be the third rebadged Maruti Suzuki product after the Glanza and the upcoming ‘Toyota Brezza’.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor has confirmed that it will introduce an all-new MPV under the partnership with Maruti Suzuki. Most likely a rebadged Maruti Ertiga, the Toyota MPV will be the third product of this nature after the Glanza (based on the Baleno) hatchback and the upcoming compact-SUV (based on the Vitara Brezza). The launch is planned for August 2021.

Source

[headbanger]

Why does Toyota need more than a year for what essentially is a rebadged car? Or is this the new level of competency that Toyota is benchmarking for itself?

[The Rationalist]

By this rate Toyota can rebadge themselves as 'Maruti Toyota'. Toyota should also provide customers option to get Toyota badges and grill and whatever affixed at Maruti Suzuki showrooms, so that Toyota can save a lot of work. At least Volkswagen and Skoda were cosmetically more different. When are we getting Maruti 'Tinnova'?

[wheelguy]

Originally Posted by headbanger

Why does Toyota need more than a year for what essentially is a rebadged car? Or is this the new level of competency that Toyota is benchmarking for itself?

Delay is not due to any technical reasons, it's a strategical decision for which Maruti and Toyota only know the reasons.

Originally Posted by The Rationalist

'Tinnova'

This had me in splits.

[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.

On a side note, I am even afraid if this would eventually result in Toyota hijacking the whole portfolio of MSIL thereby making an alias proxy and in such a scenario, the investors of MSIL could be in serious trouble.

[headbanger]

Originally Posted by wheelguy

Delay is not due to any technical reasons, it's a strategical decision for which Maruti and Toyota only know the reasons.

God help those who worship "Strategy Management" as a subject if this is an example of it. On the contrary, I am now curious why Toyota wants to wait till 2021 to showcase the rebadged Ertiga. At this rate, they can continue to launch rebadged Maruti cars for next decade comfortably.

[AYP]

Originally Posted by The Rationalist

By this rate Toyota can rebadge themselves as 'Maruti Toyota'. Toyota should also provide customers option to get Toyota badges and grill and whatever affixed at Maruti Suzuki showrooms, so that Toyota can save a lot of work. At least Volkswagen and Skoda were cosmetically more different. When are we getting Maruti 'Tinnova'?

Originally Posted by headbanger

God help those who worship "Strategy Management" as a subject if this is an example of it. On the contrary, I am now curious why Toyota wants to wait till 2021 to showcase the rebadged Ertiga. At this rate, they can continue to launch rebadged Maruti cars for next decade comfortably.

I am of the opinion that Toyota wants to debut its Ertiga based on the face-lifted Ertiga. The new Ertiga was launched on Nov 2018 and should get a face-lift by the end of 2021.

Again, this is not some insider info but the only logical thing which comes to my mind. They want to do the badge changing exercise only once with the face-lifted Ertiga, though there is little doubt about the fact that undertaking such an exercise with the current Ertiga should not really take much of their time and cost.

We saw them rebadging the Baleno only after the face-lift and the same is expected with the face-lifted Brezza. Maybe there's a trend?

[GTO]

These days, it seems we hear of more rebadged-Maruti-Toyotas than any new cars from Toyota itself. Come to think of it = When was the last time Toyota launched a Toyota ? There was the Camry Hybrid more than a year back, and the Yaris way back in 2018. It seems access to the Maruti showroom has made things easy for Toyota, which was anyways slow & sluggish with new launches.

Originally Posted by headbanger

Why does Toyota need more than a year for what essentially is a rebadged car?

Originally Posted by The Rationalist

Toyota should also provide customers option to get Toyota badges and grill and whatever affixed at Maruti Suzuki showrooms, so that Toyota can save a lot of work.

[2cents]

So, in a couple of years MS will have three kinds of showrooms - Arena, Nexa and Toyota.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by wheelguy

Toyota-badged Ertiga MPV launch scheduled for August 2021. It will be the third rebadged Maruti Suzuki product after the Glanza and the upcoming ‘Toyota Brezza’.

One more. How exciting. I think the guys facing the toughest jobs in Toyota right now would be the PR and press documentation teams. How do they come up with exciting (and totally confusing) looking content for press releases on what is essentially a total failure of an organization to do anything true to its domain and legacy. How do you make a rebadged car release appear like a new car release 3 times in 2 years? I feel sorry for these teams at TKM.

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.

A rebadged MSIL car in the end - is a car sold from Suzuki. So the sales count's don't really change for Maruti.

I'm sure that the calculations done in such deals would be taking into consideration the product pricing. To ensure the Toyota badged cars eat minimal into Suzuki's consumer market share & carve out from other car makers' shares as much as possible (thats what is pretty much visible in Baleno-Glanza already). Collectively Toyota & Suzuki both gain in this arrangement from a money perspective & shareholders shouldn't mind this.

What is disappointing is - a huge behemoth like Toyota is happy to be a "SIPANI MOTORS" in India and nothing more than that. What a waste of good engineering talent that may have been hired by them. The way other car makers are going in India on R&D, design for new products - these TKM employees should jump ship quickly IMO. The grass really is greener elsewhere.

[nikhilthegunner]

Originally Posted by GTO

When was the last time Toyota launched a Toyota ?

Toyota just recently launched the Vellfire. Did you forget?
Though why on earth anyone would pay Benz money for a Toyota is beyond me. Pay that for a Lexus if need be.

[Gansan]

Why only Toyota re-badged Marutis? Are there going to be any Maruti re-badged Toyotas? How can that work out, considering Maruti should always be cheaper than Toyota?

And apart from increased warranty, how does a Glanza benefit the customer more than the Baleno? Badge value? There are no secrets in the market. Everyone including the not so well informed customer will know they are both same under the skin. Even the salesmen in Maruti showrooms will sell a prospective customer a Baleno by telling him even Toyota sells the same car and under a different name.

[.HEM]

I wont buy an Ertiga just because, I get it from Toyota showroom. Toyota and Suzuki should share R&D and develop products from scratch and share it, Just rebadging may get extra sales for the Toyota dealers in the short run, when there are no new original Toyota launched since 2018.

I'm actually happy, that so far only Toyota is rebadging the cars. I cannot imagine seeing a Fortuner standing next to a SPresso, in the same showroom. Definitely, the sales person will pitch to a lame buyer that SPresso is a mini fortuner

But, If Maruti sells the Innova/Fortuner, will they reduce the price because it is from Maruti showroom?

[mbsomanna]

This is a result of a very strategic collaboration between Toyota & Suzuki with the potential of a merger in the future.
It could also be part of their consolidation initiatives during very challenging times for the Auto industry.

[born.4thnov]

Toyota= Reliability. This is exactly what Maruti sales guys in the show room are using. When you go to buy a Baleno, phat comes the add on line after the description...Sir, the car is so good that even Toyota is selling the same thing.