Qualis Drives Into The Commercial Segment
In the first phase of its launch Toyota Kirloskar Motor India Limited (TKML) targeted the joint families for its multi-utility vehicle (MUV) Qualis. It has sold over 6,000 units since its launch in January. Phase two will see Qualis moving into the rural markets.
"We targeted Qualis as a family vehicle and our private customer order has been quite strong," says S.Yamasaki, managing director, TKML. The MUV has been designed and marketed as a family multi-purpose vehicle. However, a strong competitor in Sumo from the Telco stable has forced Qualis to look at a wider audience for its vehicle. Yamasaki is now hoping to tap both the rural market as well as the commercial vehicle (read taxi operators) segment.
"We expect that demand from taxi segment and rural customer will begin from now onwards," he says.
Experts, however, point out that it may not be easy for Qualis to compete with Sumo in the taxi segment. The reasons are many. One, Qualis cannot compete with Sumo on price. The cheapest Qualis model costs Rs 5.23 lakh and the upper end model is priced at Rs 8.14 lakh. Sumo is more affordable _ ranging from Rs 3.71 lakh to Rs 5.75 lakh. So the capital costs for taxi operators goes up.
Second, Qualis has a lower seating capacity. According to auto consultant Murad Ali Baig, the back-seats can't take more than three persons. Third, the small and narrow tyres of Qualis have not gone well with the taxi operators. "Most of them have changed the tyres of a Qualis for broader ones," says Baig. Though Qualis is more fuel efficient and has a very refined engine, he says.
Meanwhile, Telco has come up with five new variants of Sumo, a model that has been getting the company steady volumes for the last six years. According to Telco's passenger car division head Rajiv Dube, the new, Euro-II version of the Sumo _ powered with a 90 BHP turbocharged, intercooled Euro II engine _ "is the most powerful MUV in the Indian market." Compared to Sumo's 90 BHP, Qualis' 2-litre engine develops only 75 BHP.
Already 1.5 lakh Sumos are on the Indian roads. It will take Qualis quite a while to beat Sumo in terms of volumes. Last month, 1,089 units of Qualis were sold, as compared to 2,486 Sumos.