[.anshuman]

Toyota has silently increased Fortuner's price by 45000 rupees, Its now available for Rs.18,90,000 ex-showroom gurgaon. I visited Toyota dealer and finally managed to drive the Fortuner yesterday. Most dealers are promising delivery in May-June.

Price Break-up:
Price Ex-showroom- 18,90,000
Permanent registration- 34,050
Logistics and handling charge- 3,550
Insurance- 56,246
Smiles program- 5975
On road price- 19,90,871

[4x4addict]

Dealers/Speculators are making 2 lakhs from people desperate to drive the first lot of fortuners so guess Toyota wants to milk the early birds as well.

[.anshuman]

The salesman said that booking now wont be transferable, He said the practice of charging premium was started by DSAs who had booked a lot of cars in the first lot. Though i think this isnt enough to stop this practice.

[columbus]

Well thats bad. Really unethical of Toyota to do this.
I do understand that its business, however raising the price within a couple of months of launch for the sole reason of milking the customer is certainly not expected from a Japanese manufacturer like Toyota. Thats pure and plain GREED. So no difference in between a Toyota , Honda , or GM , Ford.....I guess crows are black every where...

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by columbus

Well thats bad. Really unethical of Toyota to do this....

Eh.. Why so much frustration? Its a simple supply Vs Demand function. And whosoever said Toyota is here for Machii business (Read: Fish market bargaining stuff). If you are in Demand - you increase your price. Dont you do that if you acquire a new skill and are in the market for a new Job???

[yogeshnaik]

There was also an ON amount before booking the vehicle. The high demand makes it worthy. Do anyone think that the vehicle is so much Value For Money?
I liked the looks, seem to be built on the Innova platform.

[n.devdath]

Well this frustration is because people have or rather companies try to develop a certain image of the principles they follow in the minds of the people and at times, succeed to a certain extent as well. And suddenly we come to know that we have been taken for a royal ride all this long.

We customers are equally responsible for this. We hyped up the Fortuner far far more than its real worth and capabilities and Toyota is just taking advantage of it to the fullest.

[columbus]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Eh.. Why so much frustration? Its a simple supply Vs Demand function. And whosoever said Toyota is here for Machii business (Read: Fish market bargaining stuff). If you are in Demand - you increase your price. Dont you do that if you acquire a new skill and are in the market for a new Job???

sirji

I very well understand the economics of demand and supply. Drilled into us by our education system. However 45K may be a small amount for you but its still your hard earned money. I definitely feel "frustrated" by throwing my money.
And the Machhi market read Fish market certainly has more ethics than this. Atleast the price of the fish fixed at the start of the day dosen't gets increased at the end of the day. They continue to sell at the same or lesser price until the stocks last. Thats because they have decided at the begining of the day what profit i am going to make at the end of the day.

Not lot like Toyota who realize in the middle of the day that their "fish" read Fortuner is more in demand so lets raise the price of fish and milk the customer.

And again i'll say...i was not expecting this from Toyota. Hope devdath's post clarifies my frustration.

[tsk1979]

I do not think there is a demand and supply angle to it. As recession abated, commodity prices(steel, aluminum etc.,) started rising. Due to this reason, small car makers are mulling price hikes of 20-30000 rs, but the question is "who will be first".
In the fortuner segment, since sales are going strong, its a no brainer for the company to recover the input costs. However, do not expect any changes at price front from "not so hot selling" SUVs

[harishnair]

I don't find anything wrong with Toyota increasing the price of the Fortuner, the initial price must have been introductory and now that the vehicle is selling fast they decided to increase the price.

[dilipkumar7278]

yesterday got a call from dealer that my car has arrived, finally after 5 months of frustration. i asked the sales advisor whether they would give price protection for early booked customers. he showed the clause in the booking document which states that it is only an introductory price and price at the time of delivery is applicable. But the catch is why should the people who booked 5months before suffer for no fault of theirs? this is def unethical of toyota

[McLaren Rulez]

Technically, they have the right to do so. Its a non issue really IMO. We can grumble and that's about it. Similar to how we grumble about pricey Hondas

[R2D2]

Yes it hurts to pay more but then we all have the right to cancel the booking if we believe Toyota's actions are unethical or unwarranted. I am sure there wont be many who will cancel as the Fortuner is VFM compared to the competition.

Cheers!

[GTO]

Originally Posted by columbus

Well thats bad. Really unethical of Toyota to do this.
I do understand that its business, however raising the price within a couple of months of launch for the sole reason of milking the customer is certainly not expected from a Japanese manufacturer like Toyota.

I'm sorry to say, but your post is nothing short of being ridiculous. Please consider the following points before making such sweeping statements:

1. Toyota had announced (IIRC in December) that prices of all its models will go higher by 2 - 3%. Rising cost of input. Some other manufacturers have also followed suit.

2. There is a concept known as "introductory pricing" which is followed by nearly EVERY manufacturer. Product is launched at a special price, only to be corrected a couple of months later.

3. The Fortuner has actually corrected the prices of its COMPETITORS. You probably should have used the "milking term" for when Mitsu sold a 15 year old platform (Pajero) for 22 lakhs (read = higher than the Fortuner). Or Chevy sold the Captiva also for about that amount. The day that the Fortuner was launched, everyone else scrambled and corrected their prices.

4. It's an open market. Neither is someone forcing you to buy the Fortuner, nor are you short of alternatives. If you feel Toyota is "milking you with the Fortuner's pricing", there's atleast 4 other SUV options in the same segment.

The fact is, Toyota could have priced the Fortuner much higher than 18.45 at the time of launch. It's older competition were placed at a higher price point. With a superior brand name & following, Toyota could have easily have gotten with it. However, they still priced it at 18.45 and shook up the 20 lakh SUV market.

Want to do hear some real criticism? This is one : Shame on Toyota to equip the Fortuner with rear drum brakes.

[bhuvan_prasad]

Originally Posted by GTO

I'm sorry to say, but your post is nothing short of being ridiculous. Please consider the following points before making such sweeping statements:

1. Toyota had announced (IIRC in December) that prices of all its models will go higher by 2 - 3%. Rising cost of input. Some other manufacturers have also followed suit.

2. There is a concept known as "introductory pricing" which is followed by nearly EVERY manufacturer. Product is launched at a special price, only to be corrected a couple of months later.

3. The Fortuner has actually corrected the prices of its COMPETITORS. You probably should have used the "milking term" for when Mitsu sold a 15 year old platform (Pajero) for 22 lakhs (read = higher than the Fortuner). Or Chevy sold the Captiva also for about that amount. The day that the Fortuner was launched, everyone else scrambled and corrected their prices.

4. It's an open market. Neither is someone forcing you to buy the Fortuner, nor are you short of alternatives. If you feel Toyota is "milking you with the Fortuner's pricing", there's atleast 4 other SUV options in the same segment.

The fact is, Toyota could have priced the Fortuner much higher than 18.45 at the time of launch. It's older competition were placed at a higher price point. With a superior brand name & following, Toyota could have easily have gotten with it. However, they still priced it at 18.45 and shook up the 20 lakh SUV market.

Want to do hear some real criticism? This is one : Shame on Toyota to equip the Fortuner with rear drum brakes.

Couldn't agree more with some of the points made here by GTO. Loved the price correction bit by competitors. Why would anybody advertise a price increase? A price decrease would call for a massive integrated marketing campaign, but not a price increase, so the 'silent' bit doesn't make much sense. Of course a few dealers use the price increase to sell cars faster before the said price increase, but that is dealer dependent, and in the case of the Fortuner when it had such a huge waiting list, there was no need for that either.

The Fortuner is immense value for money even with the said 45k increase, and is definitely not one its criticisms, unlike the aforementioned drum brakes or old-school handling. In the end though, if I had a choice, it'd be an X-trail any day