[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by Bibendum90949

So the old wine has come in a new bottle. Let's see how many would get lured by the new bottle!

Thats exaggeration. Its old wine in an old bottle with a different cork & different placement of the neck label.

One has to give it to Toyota though. They are finding sure-shot success cars to rebadge out of this alliance. In this case also - the old wine is really good.

I just don't understand even now - while costlier than past, Maruti service is still fine for most cases. The car is just the same Maruti. So what exactly is it that sways a person to buy the car under the Toyota brand instead. In such cases I personally have a preference to pick the guy who did all the hard work, R&D and built the product from scratch. Originality!

Originally Posted by CEF_Beasts

Toyota hasn't even taken efforts to change maruti bagdes to toyota on their own website; check the alloy wheels from the pre-facelift Brezza and the DDiS logo on the fender!

Nice spot! Goes to show the approach of Toyota towards our market. I hope they are punished on the sales charts for such casual approach towards us - the consumers.

DDiS badge is really hilarious. At least that should have been removed!

[srishiva]

Toyota should use these to give away free to people who buy more than one Fortuner or Innovas.

How easy its been for Toyota to enter the hatchback and now the compact crossover segment
But I dont know how this is going to benefit in the short term when there is nothing to grow from these for people who buy these. Their other cars a many folds expensive. And there is nothing wrong with Maruti service that someone needs a Toyota.

[stormdRider]

Toyota Urban Cruiser new ad video released.

https://youtu.be/_q7cOIB7G64

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

I just don't understand even now - while costlier than past, Maruti service is still fine for most cases. The car is just the same Maruti. So what exactly is it that sways a person to buy the car under the Toyota brand instead. In such cases I personally have a preference to pick the guy who did all the hard work, R&D and built the product from scratch. Originality!

Toyota's laziness is showing in their numbers, no two words about it. However with copy edit paste job there are certain benefits to both party. Toyota brand has been perceived as premium over Maruti despite quite a lot Etios/Innova yellow boards. LC,Prado,Fortuner,Camry have helped to great extent. People in India do see value in seeing someone taking delivery of Fortuner when you take delivery of Urban Cruiser as compared someone taking delivery of S-Presso when you buy Brezza. Coming to actuals, I have found Toyota service better and consistent compared to most other manufacturers. Yes Maruti is good and Toyota is up there. So from a buyer perspective, nothing to lose. Spread is a problem, and that's where Maruti has an upper hand.

On the other hand with Glanza and Brezza, Toyota gets to sell products at much lower price points helping the showroom footfall. Also they have large customer base and many who are looking to buy a hatch, compact SUV as second car would definitely put Glanza/Urban Cruiser to thei options list afterall their After Sales and Service has proven track record.

[NFS2024]

Originally Posted by PrideRed

On the other hand with Glanza and Brezza, Toyota gets to sell products at much lower price points helping the showroom footfall. Also they have large customer base and many who are looking to buy a hatch, compact SUV as second car would definitely put Glanza/Urban Cruiser to thei options list afterall their After Sales and Service has proven track record.

While all this is great, there is a fundamental problem, which is, there is no product differentiation.

Apart from the Grille, there should have been a few more product differentiation from Brezza to entice the customer base of Toyota. A new Instrument cluster perhaps? different drive trains and automatics? a rear AC vent? Are all these too much of an ask?

Some basic changes, like above mentioned features would have surely got a lot more customers interested.

[adityasiera]

If Toyota can do this with the Supra and laugh their way to the bank then what is stopping them from doing it to jacked up hatch.

Brilliant move I say. Customers who choose to buy the Glanza/UC no what they are getting into.

I may be the odd one out to not buy, but there are hordes of people who will buy it. (even without crash ratings)


PS: I love the look on the face of the Fortuner guy when my puny Nexon diesel blasts past him.

[Turbokick]

People who have seen Avengers : Endgame can immediately correlate with the meme

[hummer]

What is the edge Urban Cruiser carries over Vitara Brezza?
Why should one buy the Urban Cruiser, just for a "T" badge?

Those ads where they say "Have you ever seen a Toyota cars stranded?", are all meaningless now, the Toyota legacy is compromised in India for the sake of making easy money without putting efforts.

I can't believe Toyota doesn't care to maintain it's global image here, that too coming with an ancient 4 speed auto in the year 2020, targeting urban youth and then earn respect also !!

I am sure there will be takers, but Toyota could have easily earned the RESPECT with more promising models from it's portfolio to upkeep the trust Indians have on Toyota.

[Latheesh]

Few information from the ad

- All said study hard to earn respect but he went to TV reality show and fought instead (means all said Toyota to develop new product but Toyota went to Maruti board and negotiated instead)
- He went from idiot box directly to the big screen (means Brezza went from Maruti shop floor directly to the Toyota showroom).
- Life is all about the choice you make - means Toyota chose to rebadge Brezza and do nothing else.

Aren't they the one accusing Govt for bad policies? They are milking Innova-Fortuner for more than a decade. Only major effort from them was the mediocre Liva-Etios which failed in India. They were expecting Indians to make their average effort a big success.

[motor spirit]

I guess the strategy is very clear . with just Innova & fortuner ( not considering Yaris, camry & Vellfire here)
what is the best way to keep the dealers busy , make some quick money & beat any emission regulations coming up - Shake hands with Suzuki & rebadge !.

With this T will have some time to reset strategies & see how they can cement alliance with S on the mid & long term for India .
I am sure , Toyota would have though all negative effects of the rebadging activity with Suzuki in India . They may take a small beating on the brand by this situation, but surely they will make every effort to correct this as early as possible & In coming years it will surely be a win-win for the alliance.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

It is unbelievable that BS6 has caught Suzuki & Toyota offguard , this is called Incompetence. There is no other word to describe not having a turbo petrol & diesel by now in BS6. If Hyundai \ Kia \ Mahindra can do it, they all have several turbo petrol and diesel engines, it should have been easy for Toyota.

There is a plus side IMO. Thanks to BS6 we are seeing the 1.5L petrol engine in Brezza and S-cross. Else they would have flogged that poor 1.3: DDiS engine.

The new 1.0L turbo engines are good but the 1.5L is not a bad option. The 4 speed AT is the sad part.

[headbanger]

It will be interesting to see this particular segment unfold in the coming days. Kia Sonet is the buzz on the street today and as I mentioned on another thread, the whole experience is a couple of notches above a typical Maruti product(Urban Cruiser is still a Maruti).

For me personally, Sonet wins the game handsomely. If UC+ Brezza manages to crack 10k per month, that will be a surprise.

[GTO]

The criticism is well-deserved.

At the organisation level, such a jugaad looks pathetic for Toyota. The Vitara Brezza is now almost 5 years old and it was never class-leading in any way, to begin with! To take such an old product as-in, without adding any value whatsoever just sucks. Where is the originality? The creativity? Is this what the mighty Toyota has fallen to?

One look at their global portfolio and I can get depressed just thinking of all that Toyota does NOT sell here.

[jeganatu]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

I just don't understand even now - while costlier than past, Maruti service is still fine in most cases. The car is just the same Maruti. So what exactly is it that sways a person to buy the car under the Toyota brand instead. In such cases I personally have a preference to pick the guy who did all the hard work, R&D and built the product from scratch. Originality!

DDiS badge is really hilarious. At least that should have been removed!

Like the alliance Renault-Nissan with similar models like Pulse-Micra, Scala-Sunny, Duster-Terrano, Kicks-Captur.

Like the VW Group's Vento-Rapid, Octavia-Jetta, Kodiaq-Tiguan

Like the Hyundai Group's Seltos-Creta, Sonet-Venue

Toyota wants to partner with its home country's good old friend Suzuki to come out with new product which is cheap, cost effective and can be launched as Toyota's own baby and the result a Glanza and a Urban Cruiser is born .

Originally Posted by GTO

The criticism is well-deserved.

At the organisation level, such a jugaad looks pathetic for Toyota. The Vitara Brezza is now almost 5 years old and it was never class-leading in any way, to begin with! To take such an old product as-in, without adding any value whatsoever just sucks. Where is the originality? The creativity? Is this what the mighty Toyota has fallen to?

One look at their global portfolio and I can get depressed just thinking of all that Toyota does NOT sell here.

Well, Toyota wants to try what R-N alliance or VW Auto Group's with different brand did in the Indian market. For Toyota the best partner was obvious to be Maruti Suzuki who has the best economies of scale to provide a car at lowest cost.

Earlier companies used to source components from OEM part suppliers, now Toyota outsourced a whole car to Suzuki with their own logos and specs. What's wrong here? Well, Toyota having whole resources at global level as a brand it failed to bring a good capable car on their own. Reason? Economies of scale and the quantity demand expected. Without volumes, it's not easy to launch a low cost product in market like India where 70% market share is with 2 companies. If they go the VW T-Roq and Skoda Karoq way, the cost will be too high for Toyota to make profit.

Same was the case with Nissan launching kicks (larger than the international version) on readily available duster's platform and discontinuing ageing Terrano. Now they are coming out with Magnite using the same CMF-A platform that is shared with Triber and Kiger cousins which helps both the companies to share the R&D costs and bring down cost per unit to compete the market with low volumes.

The very same reason for GM to quit and Ford to decide on M&M deal.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by NFS2024

While all this is great, there is a fundamental problem, which is, there is no product differentiation.

Apart from the Grille, there should have been a few more product differentiation from Brezza to entice the customer base of Toyota. A new Instrument cluster perhaps? different drive trains and automatics? a rear AC vent? Are all these too much of an ask?

Some basic changes, like above mentioned features would have surely got a lot more customers interested.

The copy paste job never worked in India. Look at Duster /Terrano, Nissan worked quite a lot on the Duster but ended up bombing. Vento/Rapid did kind of okay but Glanza/Baleno actually went to become more successful. I spoke to two Glanza owners and asked why did they pick this over Baleno! Both highlighted 2 points: A.S.S and T badge(even though the car had nothing to do with it).

Making more changes involve engineering costs making the product more expensive. I doubt if the market will cough up more money for a car that does not have changes underneath.

That said I wish Toyota had put in more money and effort and brought in their own compact cars, would have fared much better.