Toyota Etios Sedan Diesel and Liva Hatchback launch on 9th September
Toyota Motors have now finally confirmed the launch date for Toyota Etios Sedan Diesel and Liva Hatchback Diesel in India for the 9th of September, 2011. Talking to The Economic Times, Mr Sandeep Singh, Deputy Marketing Director of Marketing at Toyota confirmed the launch date for the diesel version of the Etios and the Liva on the 9th of September, 2011.
Both the cars will use a detuned version of the 1.4 Liter D-4D common rail turbo diesel engine which will use a fixed geometry turbocharger instead of a variable geometry turbocharger. Peak power is expected to be around 70-75 Bhp while peak torque is expected to be about 170 Nm. Incidentally, the same engine is used in the Toyota Corolla Altis with the major difference being that it uses a variable geometry turbocharger to deliver a higher power and torque rating of 87 Bhp and 205 Nm respectively. It would be interesting to see whether Toyota uses a six speed manual transmission or opts to go with a 5 speed unit.
The diesel variants of Toyota Etios Sedan and the Liva Hatchback are expected to bring a sharp increase in volumes for Toyota. Also, the low kerb weights of the Toyota Etios Sedan and the Toyota Liva Hatchback points to great driveability and high mileage numbers with the 1.4 Liter D-4D diesel engine. The launch is also expected to revive flagging sales of the Etios Liva Hatchback, which after a strong initial sales performance has become a slow seller due to the lack of a diesel engined model.
Therefore, this launch will address just that. We hope that Toyota manages to price the diesel variants of the Etios Sedan and the Liva Hatchback at a premium of around INR 70,000 over the petrol variants rather than the usual 1 Lakh rupee premium that the automaker usually charges for its diesel engined cars. This will be very crucial as both the Etios Sedan and the Liva Diesel’s main selling points have been affordability coupled to the tremendous brand value of the Toyota brand.
ChopShop Sources : indiancarsbikes.in
