Toyota Etios Diesel Sedan Launch In India In September 2011

Toyota Etios sedan is one of the best selling cars in the recent times from Toyota. The Etios has received a very positive and overwhelming response right from its launch. Recently, Toyota India also launched its hatchback version Toyota Etios Liva which is also doing good in its segment. After the petrol price hike in India, the inclination of car buyers have shifted strongly towards fuel efficient CRDI diesel engine which give a good advantage of low running cost compared to the petrol counterparts. With the Etios Diesel being awaited for a long time, the wait will get over soon. As per information shared by Autocar India Editor on Twitter, the Etios Diesel Sedan launch is confirmed for September 2011. The Etios Diesel will get a 1.4 Litre D4D diesel Engine which is fitted in Toyota Corolla Altis in India, but the engine will be tuned differently and will have a different kind of turbocharger compared to the Altis.

The Diesel will get a smaller fixed geometry turbocharger compared to the variable geometry one found on the Altis. The Diesel engine on the Etios Sedan will deliver around 90 BHP of peak power and about 180 Nm of torque. The official technical specifications are not revealed as yet. We expect a 5 speed manual transmission which will be the same as the Etios Petrol, apart from this, the kerb weight of the car will also increase by about 50 Kg due to a heavier diesel engine. The safety features and other gadgetry is not expected to be changed. The prices of the Diesel Etios in India will be approximately Rs. 80,000 (estimated) higher than the petrol version considering the additional cost of the diesel engine.
With the option of Diesel engine, Etios Diesel will pose a stiff competition to the Maruti Swift Dzire Diesel which is the leading sedan in the small segment. Also it will give hard times to Mahindra Verito, Fiat Linea and other diesel sedans with its high value for money proposition. But don’t be too quick to decide, as the launch of new Dzire is just around the corner. The smaller and cheaper Maruti Swift Dzire facelift may hit Indian roads before the end of year 2011.

Maruti Swift 2011 Long Waiting Period Expected As New Model Pre-Launch Bookings Already Too High

Maruti Suzuki is yet to officially launch the Maruti Swift 2011 in India and the bookings are already shooting through the ceiling. As per the information shared by a popular automobile show in India, the pre-launch bookings for new Maruti Swift have already crossed 25,000 mark ! This is a huge number, the primary reason for this is that Maruti is offering an option to upgrade of old Maruti Swift bookings to New Swift bookings if the customer wishes to (of course at the additional cost which is yet to be revealed). This option of converting Maruti Swift booking have translated into a lot of bookings even before the launch. Besides this, if a customer wishes to book a new Swift, the dealers are taking the pre-launch bookings already before the official launch (17 august 2011) as well.

No doubt this is an encouraging news for Maruti Suzuki, but it may mean additional waiting period for Maruti Swift buyers. We expect that it will be very hard for Maruti to deliver Swift in such large quantities as the demand seems to be quite high. Looking at the past situation, Maruti Swift (especially diesel variants) have been selling with a waiting periods of 3 months of more in most of the cases. We hope Maruti will bring down the waiting period by increasing the production of Swift with its Mansard plant. There have been reports of Maruti working hard to increase the capacity of Swift, so that the demands can be met better.

Maruti Swift 2011 has already been a successful car in Europe with encouraging reviews and good features. The Swift is already a popular car in India, and with the upgrade, it is expected to do even better. We will be curious to see the response of it in the Indian market.