Etios launched in Hyderabad

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) will increase the localisation of Etios, the B segment sedan which it launched in Hyderabad on Wednesday, once its engine plant in Bangalore gets ready in 2012. As of now, the vehicle is 70 per cent localised and this will go up to 90 per cent in two years.

Also, it will increase its dealer network from seven to ten in Andhra Pradesh in view of the new launch.

Speaking to the media on the launch, TKM executive managing coordinator (sales) Koji Nagata said the sedan would be available in four variants priced between Rs 4.95 lakh and Rs 6.88 lakh ex-showroom Hyderabad.

The company would soon launch a diesel variant of the sedan, he said, adding that there have been 8,000 bookings of the new vehicle which was launched nationally last week. It would take about four or five months to deliver them.

The company also unveiled its hatchback, Etios Liva, which would be launched in April 2011. "This is the small car for us. There are no immediate plans for smaller car than Liva,'' he said.

TKM general manager (sales) Sailesh Shetty said the company was now working out the price hike on its models as the input costs, particularly of steel, have gone up. Inflation and strengthening of the rupee too are factors, he said.

Etios will be made at the second TKM plant in Bangalore, which has an annual production capacity of 70,000 vehicles.

Music maestro AR Rahman has been roped as the brand ambassador for Etios.