[drmohitg]

Pricing would be the key here specially after the corona effects on the economy. No new cab operator would want to invest more money than he has to. Infact a lot of cab drivers that I have interacted with have told me that a WagonR in a lower Uber category fetches more money than a Dzire/Etios in a higher category. If they can price it exactly in the Dzire category, then it may find buyers as the Etios would have left a good overall impression and this can easily replace it. But knowing Toyota they would most likely price it way more than that as always.

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by GTO

While learned BHPians discuss the pros & cons, I would like to point out that there is hardly any flopped car that saw a reversal in fortunes once its cab-version was released.

Spot on. Indian market is very brutal. First 6 months sale figures decides whether a given car swims or sinks. Once a flop, no matter what you do, it just doesn't work. It's like trying to swim in a quicksand. The more you thrash, the more you sink.

Wonder what Toyota is betting on? Petrol cab? If a factory-fitted CNG then the precious boot-space goes out the window. Also, wonder how the existing Yaris owners would take to seeing this nice car going to cab market. Surprised to see Toyota giving up on Indian market even after being here since donkey's years while Koreans are going from strength to strength.

[Equus]

Originally Posted by GTO

While learned BHPians discuss the pros & cons, I would like to point out that there is hardly any flopped car that saw a reversal in fortunes once its cab-version was released. Any car is a hit or flop based on many fundamental reasons, and the taxi / fleet owner is usually more astute than even the private customer; he won't ignore the macro factors.

At best, a stripped-down Yaris will add a couple of sales to the model, but its not enough to turn a dud into one that'll bring in a smile to the finance department's face.

They are looking to replace Etios with this - so it cant be priced significantly higher! IMO, they should modify the exterior slightly and call it something else (not Yaris). Yaris can co-exist with this - 2 models from the same platform.

[charanreddy]

Down south, if it ain't a diesel , it ain't a cab !

CNG is not available yet in the south and no cab owner would run a petrol or LPG vehicle. What may help the vehicle is that Maruti Dzire tour is out of contention and hence market may move towards petrols but thats a long shot. Ford has the taxi market handed to it on a platter by the absence of Toyota Etios / Maruti Dzire's !! Hyundai Aura seems like a decent alternative too ..

Isn't it better for cabbies to use Maruti's petrol offerings Vs any other manufacturers due to the sales / service network and fuel efficiency ? What cabby would want an automatic or more air bags. I suspect this segment least considers such things. Unless the Yaris is stripped down to its super bare essentials and makes a super compelling purchase, I doubt this will trouble the bean counters too much.

[autobahnjpr]

Toyota needs a replacement for Etios for taxi fleet segment. Discontinuation of Etios would have left a void and maybe this is the product strategy from Toyota to promote yaris on one hand and avoid losing market share on the other.

Another reason could be that they would like to utilize the capacity and parts, moulds etc which they would have invested in yaris hoping it would have been a successful product.

[ash22]

It seems Toyota is in a hurry to push a replacement for ETIOS.

Rather than releasing this half-baked Yaris with CNG, Toyota and MSIL can jointly develop a 1.5 Diesel engine which will be a WIN-WIN for both. MSIL can use it in Swift/Dzire/Brezza/Ertiga/S-Cross and Toyota can use it in Yaris, future Yaris Hatch, etc...

Rather than rebadging the product, This could be a hit.
With this, Yaris would be a better replacement for Etios.

[gops2009]

This is a very interesting discussion, and I recall there was a lot of animated discussion when the Etios was launched, I do recall may of us on this forum suspecting the build quality and the gawky placement of the Speedometer, the interior quality, ribbed roof et all. But over the years Toyota proved us all wrong. I have spoken to many cab drivers who drive an etios and they had chosen this over the Swift and the Veritos for its built to last nature and the resultant reliability and maintenance cost.
Remember, these guys had the Gall to stop production of Qualis which was a best seller and introduce Innova , I think the success of that is what misled them to believe that they could do this in any segment , Yaris, IMHO was a victim of this blunder . I guess a global giant like Toyota will have something up their sleeve when they are looking at Yaris to have a commercial segment variant, so my view would be that we wait before writing the epitaph of Yaris.

I find it very difficult to believe that the marketing honchos in Toyota HQ have not seen the gap and the opportunity that BS6 upgrade has presented them with in the taxi segment .

[VJ05]

IMHO, with this move TKM is just trying to recover the cost of developing the Yaris for Indian Market. I don't there's a small Diesel engine in pipeline, if there's any then they would not have discontinued Etios which was still selling in decent numbers in cab segment.

[vshankarhere]

With this, the Yaris name can never again be used by Toyota for a practical family sedan; once launched the name will be permanently associated with taxi and even when Toyota manages to bring in an updated Yaris with more realistic pricing, it will fail. Else, Toyota might need to bring in this variant with a different name in the lines of Prime and Tour of Xcent and Dzire respectively. Even then, it might not help much!

[John316_WRC]

The greedy top level exec's at Toyota India must learn a lesson. Launching a lower spec car doesn't make it's flaws go away. If I was a cab operator, I'd simply buy the Amaze diesel or Aspire. Launching a petrol Yaris for the taxi market is absolutely pointless.

Since the Etios name has come up in our discussions, I wasn't happy when they discontinued it. Especially the hatchback version. For someone who wanted a no-nonsense, safe family hatch that could do it all, it made good sense. They could have changed the dashboard/center console design and continued selling it.

[84.monsoon]

With the coming of the Bs6 regulation, small diesel car manufacturers in India have responded in a polarised way. Some like Maruti, Toyota, VW, RenaultNissan and FCA have taken the high road said NO to small Diesel engines. On the other end of the spectrum, Hyundai, Tata, Ford and Mahindra are doubling down and upgrading their diesels with minimal price premium over the Bs4 vehicles.

This will result in a big advantage to the latter group. Diesels will always have a distinct place in the market, especially in the segment where the small sedans are used as Taxis. This segment was dominated by Toyota and Maruti and with both these companies pulling out, there is a big void that is left behind. Although Tata, Hyundai and Ford have competent offerings by way of their small diesel sedans, none of these are as well suited to the segment, since they are too small with insufficient passenger room and luggage carrying capacity.

Please note that the Toyota’s 1.4 D4D engine was upgraded to meet Euro-6 Norms in 2015 itself. It has received rave reviews from the global automotive press by way of the Diesel powered Yaris launched in Europe in 2015. The sweet low end torque, ultra-low fuel consumption of over 25kmpl and top speeds of up to 175 kph have been particularly noted in the below review. The the high for upgrading the engine to get to Euro6 is also very low cost, using a NOX trap. All that prevents Toyota from launching the same diesel powered Yaris here is the loss-of-face from having declared they will get out of the small diesel segment and then going back on this announcement. They should get off the high horse and start to behave opportunistically like Maruti and Hyundai. This is the only way they can push their market share upwards from their tepid long term performance, with success limited to the Innova and Fortuner.

https://blog.toyota.eu/your-toyota/a...sel-for-yaris/

[nandadevieast]

I am really interested in buying a no frills abuse friendly car and i was looking at Etios few months back. Having had my share of thrills, and enough breakdowns, reliability is the first criterion for me. Yaris sounds like that car.

[Turbanator]

It’s confirmed, they will launch CNG. Whether it’s going to be done at factory or the dealership is unknown at this moment.

They have plans to have a CNG installation at the factory itself but not sure if it will start immediately or will happen later. Either way, Toyota warranty will back fully it and Yes, Yaris does has a space for a CNG tank in the boot

The idea being Maruti pushing for CNG in a big way in absence of Diesel for a while. As we have seen, infrastructure can follow when a mass leader like Maruti commits and am sure they will work with the authorities. If Toyota can get a slice, this can keep them busy for the time being.

[Storm2.0]

This might get Yaris moving out of showrooms but I sincerely feel that Toyota is stripping the car off it's dignity. It's like Merc or BMW announcing tomorrow that they'll be launching a completely bare bones version of their cars just to make it more affordable.

Seeing how Toyota is busy downgrading this poor ca,r tomorrow they might encourage fleet owners to put adulterated petrol with kerosene too to make running the car cheaper.

[Contrapunto]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

Surprised to see Toyota giving up on Indian market even after being here since donkey's years while Koreans are going from strength to strength.

Toyota is legendary for their very, very low risk appetite. In EVERY segment, they wanted to be sure, very sure, doubly sure before they launched a product. And while they prevaricated, someone stole the market. It has been true for the compact SUV (EcoSport), mid-sized SUV (MG, Kia), premium people mover (Kia), premium sedan (MG Sedan is on its way), pure EVs (MG, Kona). Once left behind, they sulk and make an informed decision that the pie is not big enough to have Toyota in it

I think we are seeing the beginning of the end of a proud brand that has given me some much pleasure (pre-owned Innova - for approx 100k Km). I would any day buy a Toyota if it has a good product in the segment I am buying in. But alas......