Etios

Source :Ahmedabad: livemint: Tue, Dec 14 2010. 5:20 PM IST

Waiting period for Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd’s newly launched sedan Etios, which is currently at around six to nine months from the day of booking, is unlikely to go down for the next few months as the automobile manufacturer does not want to take any hurried decision to ramp up the manufacturing capacity of its second plant at Bangalore, officials of the firm said on Tuesday.

TKML is the Indian subsidiary of automobile firm Toyota Motor Corp.

Etios sedan which is priced between Rs. 4.96 lakh to 6.86 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi ), was launched on 1 December and the company already has an order book of 11,000 units.

“The initial response is very good. However, we would like to wait and watch the customer response for a few more months before taking any decision to ramp up the production capacity (at the firms second plant in Bangalore where Etios is being manufactured),” said Koji Nagata, executive managing coordinator director (marketing).

The company’s other plant which manufactures Corolla Altis, Innova and Fortuner is also in located in Bangalore .

Nagata said the waiting period will continue to be around six to nine months until the firm ramps up the production.

“We will ramp up the production but only after watching the customer response for few months,” Nagata said while refusing to reveal the capacity expansion details.

He said the plant is currently equipped to manufacture 70,000 units.

“The production at the plant can scaled up to 100,000 units with minimal investment but the firm is unlikely to do that until it launches Etios Liva (the hatchback version of Etios),” said an official of the firm who did not wished to be named.

Etios Liva is scheduled to be launched in April 2011.

“The company would like to first see the customer response for Etios Liva also because this model will also be manufactured at the newly built second plant at Bangalore ,” the official said.

TKML is looking at selling total 70,000 units of Etios and Etios Liva both, Nagata said.

Toyota has launched Etios to compete with priced against Swift Dzire of Maruti Suzuki Ltd, Tata Motors Ltd’s Indigo and the Logan from Mahindra & Mahindra.

The firm is yet to decide the price of Etios Liva, Nagata said.