[zulfi hansi]

Originally Posted by Virtualaman

This is my first post, though I have been avidly following Team BHP since the last month, particularly this thread.

Went to Millennium Toyota (Thane) for a test drive today after having seen the display car a week back. Here's a roundup of the experience:

As I was expecting, the showroom was buzzing with groups of people either waiting for or having just finished with a test drive. Had to wait 15 mins before I could get my hands on the car (Vx variant). Though the salespeson was keen on making me do a pre chartered 5 minutes course, I was more keen on testing out the vehicle properly. Managed a 15 minutes TD with atleast 4 calls fron his boss about the whereabouts of the car.

Now that is cutting across norms competition, this will be interesting to see. And there is nothing wrong, any car which ever the segment as a consumer if i compare vento diesel to etios diesel when it is launched. What price will toyota have for the diesel Etios? Any guesses?

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by zulfi hansi

Now that is cutting across norms competition, this will be interesting to see. And there is nothing wrong, any car which ever the segment as a consumer if i compare vento diesel to etios diesel when it is launched. What price will toyota have for the diesel Etios? Any guesses?

Exactly my thoughts. I too am interested in Etios Diesel. My guess is that the oil burner will be priced at a premium of one lakh over its petrol counterpart, the lower variants being on the south side of a lakh & the higher variants on the north of one lakh.

[tj123]

If you have already booked your Etios then here is some news from TOI, Toyota is considering a unique offering for those in queue by giving them the option to shift to the company's compact car, Liva, which debuts in March. Read the complete article on the following link In queue for Etios? Toyota may offer you Liva - The Times of India

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by tj123

If you have already booked your Etios then here is some news from TOI, Toyota is considering a unique offering for those in queue by giving them the option to shift to the company's compact car, Liva, which debuts in March. Read the complete article on the following link In queue for Etios? Toyota may offer you Liva - The Times of India

Thats really a good gesture by Toyota, however I think anyone who is vying for the Etios sedan would hardly settle for a Liva hatch, more so because the 1.2 litre motor of the Liva won't be a match for the 1.5 litre of the Etios. This exposes some planning errors on the part of Toyota. They launched the vehicle in the middle of Auto boom in India, so the Etios would garner unprecedented demand was all but obvious. They should have built a strong inventory of the initial batch & made plans for a quick ramp-up. Though they have said on many forums about the capacity expansion from 70K to 200K, I don't think that will happen any soon.

[parsh]

I think, the move to allow customers to switch to Liva before official announcement and Liva booking opening does not seem to be a good move on part of Toyota.

Consider, the customers who have booked Etios would have booked in comparison of and wanting a Sedan. However, it will be letdown if they have to switch to Liva hatchback instead (not by force but by reluctance).

Whereas, since the Liva bookings are still not opened, the future Liva customers will be at loss as they would be waiting for bookinng opening and would be marred by the switching over.

In many ways, the move does not look good. Instead Toyota should focus upon rightfully giving customers what they want and in a reasonable timeframe by managing/upping their production.

As I was discussing with a couple of executives, people have started speculating, cancelling booking (maybe a few have acted too) and switching over to other options due to the lacklustre availability of Etios and in future Liva.

[tj123]

Six month waiting period is too long in this fast moving world. One of my friend who booked an Etios has already cancelled his booking as he wanted a car on an immediate basis. It will be true test for Toyota to keep its order book in place. Mass cancellation can stall all its future ramp up plans, classical I can think of is the Tata Nano, initially they had a healthy bookings however after some time the momentum fizzed away, we have all threads associated to it.

Giving option of Liva is like insulting your customer, it like how will you feel if you get half cup coffee instead of a full cup.

[amit.mishra]

Happened to speak to the Toyota showroom guy here. Waiting period is now 7-8 months. But the good news is that according to the showroom guy Toyota might deliver the vehicle in 4 months and they want to delight the customer by first mentioning 8 months waiting and then delivering in 4 mths.
I do not understand the strategy here.. or am i missing something

[camchennai]

Folks,

Just my 2 cents to members who are interested in owning an Etios, there is one base model Etios available off shelf in Chennai. Base model is equipped only with AC and there is no power steering, OTR come to 5.5L.

PM me if anyone is interested.

Note - This is only for Chennai members as the car is with Chennai dealership.

[RoadTiger]

Even if it was well-intentioned, Toyota's move to offer Liva for folks who have booked Etios is quite ridiculous.

If Toyota didnt expect to be able to cater to upwards of 10k bookings on launch for a car that they took 4+ years to develop, they suffer from a case of extreme low self-esteem. Truly - bad planning, Toyota !

[kadurRacer]

I am waiting for Diesel version of Etios Sedan. Any speculation on the date of launch? Called up Ravindu Toyota and Nandi Toyota in Bangalore but they refused to comment.

[gautam109]

This is my first post on Team BHP. We're looking for a replacement for our old Maruti Esteem and the forums have been an invaluable help. We were on the verge of booking a Manza Petrol Aura+ (after digesting GTO's fantastic review + all the other owner/TD reviews) when word of the upcoming Etios reached T-bhp and we decided to wait.

Despite the higher price tag and lack of features vis-a-vis the Manza, we decided to go for the Etios (Tata's infamous niggles vs Toyota reliability). After agonizing over the decision, we booked our Silver Etios (V) at Toyota Shinrai at Nariman Point on 2nd Dec - a day after the launch.

We took a carbon-copy of the booking form from the dealer, but we have no details like booking number etc. We were informed that allotments would be made sometime in Jan end / Feb and deliveries starting in 4-6 months. We were also told that a TD car would be available in Jan 1st week.

Its mid Jan now with no sign of TD car and no clue as to when one will arrive (maybe by Jan 3rd week said the salesperson). No update on delivery dates as well. Checked with Toyota's call centre to find out when TD cars would be available in Bombay. I was first told that they are already in showrooms. On being informed that my nearest showroom definitely doesn't have one, I was told that some showrooms might have delays in getting cars. So I asked to know which showrooms in Bombay do have them - got an amazing reply - "Sir you can call the showrooms and ask, I will give you the phone numbers" Wow!! Toyota can't even keep tabs on which of its showrooms has TD Cars?

A question - Is it standard to get ONLY a copy of the booking form after booking? Aren't we supposed to get a booking number through some centralized Toyota system? How do I track my booking or know if it has been placed in the queue? Tbhpians please guide - especially other Toyota owners / bookers

Shinrai said that they expect an allotment of cars sometime in Feb and will make further allotments down to the 1st lot of customers at that time. If I am lucky enough to be covered in that lot, they would give me the allotment details then. Sounds a bit fishy to me - I was originally told that that bookings are prioritized on first-come first-serve basis, but sounds more and more like these guys are going to use their discretion in distributing the allotments.

Over a month and half since I booked the car and I don’t even know now when I'll be getting a TD, much less a delivery date. Toyota's sales experience has been pretty disappointing, hope that their production standards and A** are better than this. Meanwhile, the Manza's looking better every day.

PS: Mods - posting this here since the Etios booking experiences thread had been closed and merged into this one. Do let me know if this needs to go elsewhere.

[RegularIndian]

Hi Gautam,

I booked an Etios on Dec 2 as well. Was promised a booking number and after a couple of follow ups got one..so go after the dealer and hound him until you get your booking number.

No way to track your car through that number, but as mentioned in my booking experience thread, Toyota has improved the booking and dispatch procedure to ensure dealers dont hoard the cars/sell it for a premium etc. so the car will be dispatched from Toyota plant bearing ur booking number.

I was given a tentative date of delivery as April 2011. I got a call from the dealer on Jan 11 that my car has been dispatched from the plant on 6th Jan and I should make the payment now and take a delivery by 14th Jan as the car will arrive in Gurgaon on 13th. Well, needless to say, I have refused to make the payment till I see the car in person at the dealership, one more followup after that from the dealer n then silence..today is 14th Jan..no information.

IMHO, Toyota obviously would have trained the dealerships on how they want the selling experience to be, however, the dealerships have their own issues/challenges/whims and fancies that actually get translated to the buying experience. So be patient , is my two cents

Any other booking experiences so far???

[lmilind]

Hi, I think there is some misinformation. I had booked Etios (G ) at Madhuban Toyota Khar West on 1st December at 8.00pm, I had received my receipt immediately, Next day i had received the sms with the Booking reference number for further communication. 2 weeks back Dealer had invited me for TD & last week only had a test drive at dealership. In fact after that i had done TD with Lakozy Toyota at Andheri Kurla Road & also Millennium Toyota at Parle West. Dealer had informed me that Car had been allotted to me in First lot & can be expected any time in Feb.
You can have TD with any of the Toyota Dealership & fortunately there are many in Mumbai

[Virtualaman]

I just booked my Etios today.

Have been given a delivery committment of 6 months. This is with Milennium Toyota at Thane City. I was told that Toyota has ramped up production to close to 7000 per month (though a bit optimistic, in my opinion. I think 5000-5500 would be more realistic, given that the plant's total annual capacity is 70,000. And I would expect them to run with the production till April / May, as that's when at least half of the capacity will need to be shared with the Liva.)

All dealers have apparently received an email about the reduced waiting times. I tend to agree with the opinion that Toyota is trying to give the most conservative estimates of delivery times, so as not to disappoint customers. Wouldn't be surpised if the alotment happens before the comitted 6 months in my case.

Originally Posted by gautam109

We took a carbon-copy of the booking form from the dealer, but we have no details like booking number etc.

A question - Is it standard to get ONLY a copy of the booking form after booking? Aren't we supposed to get a booking number through some centralized Toyota system? How do I track my booking or know if it has been placed in the queue? Tbhpians please guide - especially other Toyota owners / bookers

Here's one way in which Team BHP helped me. I had read few posts about experiences where either the booking number was not given immediately or not even after a month. In my case as well, it might have been more than 3-4 days, had I not very clearly insisted upon it immediately. I managed to get it. So in case your dealer is acting vague, you should demand it or write to Toyota.

Originally Posted by RegularIndian

Was promised a booking number and after a couple of follow ups got one..so go after the dealer and hound him until you get your booking number.

This was one of the experiences I quoted to the dealer and made it clear that I do not wish to go through. He understood that I am smart and can't be told any excuse.

Originally Posted by RegularIndian

No way to track your car through that number. Any other booking experiences so far???

That is correct. No way to track the booking, except checking with the dealer.

Can someone please confirm that their booking number also starts with ORD*** ?

[theguy]

I saw an Etios a few days back on road its a test drive car I guess, it isnt as ugly as it looks in the pictures but it still is an ugly car, and that chrome strip on the boot ughhh.. I would still say Manza is the best car in this segment