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-   -   Toyota might discontinue the Yaris in India | EDIT: Confirmed (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/235530-toyota-might-discontinue-yaris-india-edit-confirmed-6.html)

Good Bye Yaris



Here goes another top selling car of the World from India. I am really upset, is this what we deserve? The Indian market is very unpredictable, I still remember seeing Yaris at the Airport for the first time, those roof mounted AC vents were the most striking thing I had ever seen in a Sedan.

This isn't fair Toyota, they can just bring 2-3 cars from their global portfolio and shake the whole Indian Market.

Anyways, Good BYE another great car, THE YARIS.

This news reminds me of another GREAT CAR, the Etios.

This car should really come back with Diesel in its BS 6 Avtar, Etios was a combination of safety(GNCAP 4 stars), quality Durability and Reliability, perfect of Taxi drivers.
How many of you agree with me?

"this move is a part of Toyota’s product strategy to continue to cater to the ever-evolving needs of the customer through enhanced technologies and product offerings."

What ever-changing needs which require advanced technologies are present in their upcoming Belta, instead of the Yaris?

Honestly, that line from Toyota feels pretty sarcastic.

To me, it sounded more like we the Toyota cannot figure out evolving technologies and thus will stop creating new products. In the meanwhile, we are happy becoming a dealership of Suzuki in India.

It most certainly seems to be like that. Toyota is basically saying that consumers want a light, cheap and fuel efficient car (we all know the troll names for the above mentioned qualities, so I shall let your imagination fill the blanks), instead of a proper quality engineered "real" toyota, and toyota are just obliging that demand.

Unfortunately our car market is such, it rewards cheap and gimmicky. Where as all the quality-car making companies are being shown the boot, one by one, and the car companies which are now starting to do better have all embraced the cheap quality flag.

I've seen a lot of people on the forum say, If a company wants to survive in India, they better adapt to the market and stop being arrogant. Man, at what cost!? Sad dark future us petrolheads have ahead of us.

Expected and at last.
So it will be primarily the Innova and Fortuner and they aren't going anytime soon unless something drastic happens.

They mean the MSIL rebadged or the co-dev models.

Looking at their popular models elsewhere, excluding the Innova, Fortuner and rebadges:
- Yaris : they pulled
- Corolla/Altis : They pulled
- Camry : limited
- Vellfire : limited
- Rav4 : doubtful
- GT86 : doubtful
- Hilux CBU : doubtful, it would appeal to different target audience and as a CBU it will be difficult to compete with the Isuzu VMax on price.
- Landcruiser/Prado : doubtful, if they wanted to they would've already done it years ago

The doubtful are mainly because Toyota has stated that they aren't looking to invest any further, hinting at CBU units which will be priced out and essentially too much effort for too little in Toyota's eyes, IMHO.

The curse of the mass market is that it wants everything at a low price, the effect of which is to have unsafe feather-weight tin cans that give great mileage and all gizmos at the cost of safety/reliability. Ask anyone who has owned these econoboxes, and they will curse them after they've run 1L kms (falling apart) or had an accident with bad outcomes.

Those folk are currently in the minority, in a country with demographic dividend, mostly being under-paid and under-employed. The typical 1st car owner, is either cash strapped or looking for gizmos/mileage over everything else. As a consumer matures, he/she will look for better products. But given paychecks dont keep up with inflation, even upgraders are value seekers.

I think many OEMs who thought their addressable market will be upgrades from MSIL customers are slowly realizing that alone is a flawed strategy. They exit the market or make cash-cows in limited volumes (Toyota/VW/Honda), with a i'm also there product in the mass market. Only Renault-Nissan seems to want to take on MSIL in that cheap/cheerful segment with similar unsafe products!

This means CIAZ with Toyota badge launch is just around the corner.

In the long run, does Toyota aim to consume all of Maruti and with the growing demands of the market that Maruti won't be able to meet as the market matures, Maruti will die/merged into Toyota and toyota will bring in their global products when the market is ready. We have to admit today a lot of cars are being sold at 15-20L range in India compared to a few years ago and in 10 years the sales will shift into this segment even more which is when Toyota would want to bring in the models they have at this price range, until then its better to milk the market based on their badge + what market wants for as long as it can (cheap, easy to maintain cars from Maruti)

Yaris hasn't been anyone's Yaar for sure! Less than 20k units sold till date since it's launch 3 years back!! Brought in to compete with the Honda City it didn't make a mark and was never on the buyers radar at all. I haven't driven one, but can't imagine why it didn't sell despite being a Toyota?! Looks like Covid is taking it's toll on many car companies and models: time for consolidation in the automobile sector, I think!!

Maybe they are including face lifts of their existing models. I am assuming Innova Crysta is due for a face lift.

No one bought it when it was on sale, and after a couple of years lazy automobile content creators and pages mark it as an underrated cult classic. Should do well in the used market after a couple of years, just like how people go gaga over used Corollas.

I feel the Yaris failed due to a Diesel engine. As far as reviews go, the car felt boring, it was a case of jack of all traits but master of none. Maybe if it had a diesel engine, it could have sold well.

Absolutely. To me, Toyota never took this segment seriously enough to challenge any of the competitors. Yes, the car was built well with good safety features, but high pricing, lack of a diesel engine and other features (eg. seat ergonomics, unusable hand rest etc) made it a sales dud from day 1. They never had any interest like Honda / Hyundai to generate some buzz amongst the customers. To me, this half-hearted attempt by Toyota "to recreate an Innova" in the sedan segment has backfired. The general notion that anything with a T badge will sell well has been proven wrong here.

As a car enthusiast, it is disheartening to see Toyota is not bringing their own world class products to India. I even wonder if they are going the Ford way sooner or later. Without a vibrant portfolio and new product investments, how long can they sustain on re-badged products from Maruti Suzuki? Sure, there are selling few numbers for Glanza and UC. Upcoming Belta and re-badged Ertiga would sell too.So what happens to Toyota as a brand and it's associated quality and reliability? I sincerely hope they stay committed to India with new products from their own stable.

While I am sad that Toyota pulled the plug on yet another competent vehicle and intends to replace it with a poorly built substitute, the fact remains that the Yaris did not sell.

Frankly, Toyota in India have become lazy and complacent since they are raking in the moolah without even trying. They have two competent overpriced vehicles that outsell everything else in their respective segments and the fat margins have spoilt them. I think the Yaris was a test case on whether they could extend the premium pricing in the standard sedan segment. When the paying public did not fall for it, they pulled the plug.

Now I doubt they will bring any of their standard global offerings here, as long as people are ok with buying Innovas and Fortuners, not to mention rebadged Marutis.

The only way Toyota is going to make an effort is if sales of their existing superstar products tank or if rebadged Marutis don't sell. Else they will continue to laugh all the way to the bank while we will continue to be disappointed with them and still be going out and buying their existing portfolio including the rebadged Marutis.

I think it is unfair to characterize global companies like Toyota as 'lazy'. The truth is that the same Toyota retains the highest selling mainstream compact (Corolla), sedan (Camry) and midsize SUV (RAV4) in the US, retaining those spots for decades in the most competitive market on the planet.

The sad truth is that the Indian auto market is too small for them to create India specific models and too low in purchasing power to buy global models in any significant numbers.

When they ask themselves before launching a new model, 'can we expect profitable growth while retaining core brand values', the answer invariably is no.

The rosy projections from a decade ago of a middle class and infrastructure revolution have collapsed under a stagnant GDP.

We see the automakers reaction to the long term business case for India as an automobile hub, and label them as 'lazy' or 'agile'.