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-   -   Toyota Hilux pickup | EDIT: Bookings now closed (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/226055-toyota-hilux-pickup-edit-bookings-now-closed-27.html)

So anywhere in India diesel vehicles have to be retired in 15 years?

RC is valid for 15 years, Petrol or diesel. After that you can get RC renewed but car will have to undergo fitness test.

The Hilux is rumoured to have a price of 35Lakh OTR for the top-end variant, so how is the Hilux going to be 3X more expensive than a Thar?

The Wrangler Unlimited is 67 Lakh OTR Mumbai (Rubicon is 71 Lakh OTR), again I don’t see the Hilux come even close to this pricing. Worst to worst case Hilux will touch 40 Lakh OTR, there will still be a big 27 Lakh difference between the two! It’s the Fortuner that is creeping close to the 50 Lakh ex-showroom mark every 6 months (it’s already 43 Lakh ex-showroom for the top-spec 4X4 AT), where the Wrangler is at 56 Lakhs ex-showroom.

Toyota hopes to grow niche lifestyle segment with Hilux.



Source

The Toyota dealer in Calcutta is indicating a price of Rs 35-36lakhs ex-showroom and this seems to be backed up by various posts on this forum.

This will be a good profit margin product for Toyota. However hard they may try to justify their "brand equity", "ruggedness", "lifestyle" et al, they know very well that this is priced at a level far more than it deserves to be.

If we take a ballpark pricing reference: the top variant of Hilux Revo GR Sport 4x4 in Thailand costs around Thai Baht 889,000 which at today's exchange rates works out to somewhere around Rs 20 odd lakhs.
The vehicle mechanical packaging is the same as the proposed Indian offering and I am sure the Thai model is quite rich in features and contents, if not more than what we will be given in our country.

Thus, charging a premium of almost double the amount from the Thai pricing equivalent of Rs 20 odd lakhs to an indicated price of Rs 35-38 lakhs ex-showroom India, as per the Autocar India article and various dealer sources, can in no way be termed as justified.

Do not forget, that a vast majority of parts will be from the common parts bin and shared, globally, between all vehicles and derivatives based on the Toyota IMV platform which underpins the HiLux, Fortuner and an assortment of models and variants across the world. Hence "part piece cost" to Toyota is even lower as it is amortised over large volumes.
A reasonable "guess-timate"; I am sure, will put the HiLux BOM,(Bill of Materials), Cost for the Indian model somewhere in the region of Rs 10 odd lakhs, keeping in mind all CKD levies, taxes, overheads etc.

The balance amount that Toyota is charging can best be summed up by quoting the lyrics from Pink Floyd's evergreen hit, "MONEY":
"....Money, it's a gas,
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash;
A new car, caviar, four star daydream;
Think I'll buy me a football team
Money, well, get back
I'm all right Jack, keep your hands off of my stack"

For Toyota, well, I guess, again to quote the legendary Mark Knopfler and lines from his song: "Money For Nothing"
"...Now look at them yo-yos, that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain't workin', that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and your chicks for free"

lol:

Toyota will surely be laughing all the way to the bank! :Cheering:

Taxes seem much lower in Thailand, at first glance.
https://aseannow.com/topic/435479-ta...s-in-thailand/

No clue on what is being heard and read by members here, booked by paying 1 lakh to esprit toyota noida. Sales rep has said it should be OTR 35 lakhs for the top end auto, on being asked are you sure, he replied it wont be more then the entry level Fortuner in all estimates , then again he may be wrong. Also he said said full amount refundable on cancellation. I clearly mentioned that anything above 35 Lakh OTR and i walk away, also they have almost negligible bookings.

Not to defend Toyota's pricing strategy, but the 889,000 baht- 20 odd lakhs is the 4x2 low riding variant. The high riding 4x4 variant with bigger tyres cost about 30 lakhs. Not to say, pickups have traditionally enjoyed low taxes in Thailand.

For example, the top most variant of the Innova costs 32 lakhs in Thailand. We get it for 25 lakhs ex showroom and after taxes costs the same as Thailand. Also our base petrol variant of the Innova costs 5-6 lakhs cheaper than the Thai version. We get a much bigger engine (2700cc vs 2000cc), more modern infotainment while losing out on four airbags. Same with the Fortuner, though they also have the 2.4l option.

To sum up Hilux in words of Top Gear.


Toyota's Hilux Pick-up walks the tight rope between "Lifestyle Cool Image" and "Hard-as-nails Utility Vehicle"!

Just like how the compact crossovers and soft roaders in India has been rechristened as "SUV"s by most manufacturers here, such a misnomer would be coined by Toyota too - Life Style "Premium Vehicle" instead of mentioning it as Life Style "pick-up truck".

Personally, I would like to see this segment grow. As few have pointed out in this thread, Indian families are far far away from embracing a life style pick up as a family car. Hence the "richer life" positioning by Toyota. If Mahindra could move the Thar from niche to mainstream, so can Toyota with Hilux.

No, not at the price point that the Hilux will launch at. The number of cars sold at 30-35 lakhs+ price point is a fraction of those sold at 15 lakh price point. The number of people accordingly that will move from more mainstream products in the 30-35 lakh range into this niche one will also be far lower.

I feel Hilux as a product is as futile as the lame advertising "richer life" campaign is. It can be a showcase for the tough and rough image that Fortuner has developed for Toyota, but little else. Think Toyota may have been better off launching the Rav4 in the ~30 lakh range, now that there is some excitement in that segment, and given Fortuner prices have gone up north. But i also hope Toyota proves me wrong :coldsweat

What I meant by mainstream Toyota is Innova, Fortuner etc, notwithstanding the price brackets. They surely don't want Hilux to enter and stay as niche. The whole setting up with all these marketing stunts point to that.

An Overdrive interview with the Toyota chief engineer on Hilux.

https://youtu.be/Q4lr4hIYlwk

Mods: Please do delete the post if this has been shared here before. I went back few pages and didn't find them.

Toyota has intentionally kept the price a secret. They are trying to gauge how many people will book the Hilux even without checking the price. So I think the price is still being decided (based on number of bookings). Hope this one doesn't end up like the Yaris.

A pretty good account of how Isuzu V Cross and Hilux stack up against each other.

https://www.topspeed.in/stories/cars...59378.amp.html