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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-7.html)

Another Good car went from India which was indeed an actual Toyota. I think Toyota is only interested in selling rebadged tin cans in India. While they are heavily milking profits with Innova and Fortuner.

I'm thankful that I did not book Yaris when I was considering the Honda City. I really liked the Yaris very much. A very competent and safe car. The SUV/CSUV craze is the primary reason for the dismal performance of the car IMO.

I think the strategy of Toyota to rebadge Suzuki cars is very good. In our market, a car manufacturer should have at least a few mass market cars in the portfolio to get footfalls and help the dealers survive.

@mods please change the title to reflect that Yaris is now discontinued.

Regards,
lsjey

This is quite jittery for enthusiasts to see. The automotive industry in India is falling apart.

There is just no enthusiasm being shown by automobile manufacturers. More like most of them are simply giving up. Our market just got more blah !!

MITSUBISHI, FIAT, CHEVROLET, FORD, "THE REAL TOYOTA" all gone.

VW next I suppose...

They should have waited a year or two and brought this instead - Yaris Cross, a baby Lexus by style, probably with a better nose job. Still worth a try for Toyota I would say as they have the platform.

New Yaris sedan didn’t do well in any markets if I recall correctly.

On a side note, how I wish Maruti reworks toyota’s 1.5 diesel and bring it in their cars!

I think global giants like Toyota have a certain profitability threshold for each car/market they sell in based on the stronger currencies and higher purchasing power of their niche markets(US/EU/JP).
Ours is an extremely price sensitive market especially in the under 20 lakhs segment where these models slot in.
So they have to change their approach for this one market which already has well established players and profits are less.
They tried with the Etios but like someone has already mentioned that the Etios was killed because it wasn't very profitable for Toyota.

On the Yaris, I will quote an earlier post of mine :

So yet another victim of our absurd taxation system (the 4 m rule), our lack of safety standards, and the global trends away from sedans towards crossovers passes away. Agree fully that the Yaris was not the best C segment sedan around, and it would likely have struggled even if sedan sales were rising, and the sub 4 m rule did not exist. But with the sub 4 m rule, the advantage of crossovers vs sedans gets accentuated - the Yaris was priced at ₹9.6-14.6 l, and fetched Toyota a net realisation of just ₹6.4 - 9.7 l. You could price a sub 4 m crossover with the same net realisation at ₹8.3-12.5 l, as much as ₹ 2 l less at the higher end. No wonder Sonets fly off the shelves while even the Ciaz and City struggle. It makes immense sense for Toyota to sell rebranded Marutis instead.

Pity the middle class Indian buyer who values safety - he is faced with a shrinking choice set every year.

Apologies to moderators, I might be a bit off topic.
The truth is automakers like Toyota, Ford, VW which are stronger in the western markets need significant volumes in the 15 lakh plus segment (consciously said 15 lakhs, as even compact suvs now can cost upwards of 12 lakhs) to justify model development or adoption of their global portfolio for local manufacturing in the Indian Market. Anything below that doesn't reward as margins are very low. When Ford exited many quoted the sub-4m rule, success of KIA, MG etc. I beg to differ. Yes these brands have been lazy and ignorant of the market. I am not whitewashing their sins either. But consider the following before blaming these automakers for their laziness or Toyota merely choosing to rebadge Marutis,

The truth is our economy has not grown enough. Maruti has a 45% percent market share, how much of that percentage is taken by the S-Cross? Hyundai is helped by the fact that its product in the Home market are similar to Indian market, so a lot of development costs are saved. KIA as of now is just piggybacking on the product development of Hyundai. MG, well let me give an example I live in DELHI NCR, I am yet to see the number of new Honda Cities one would expect after more than year since its launch. Even the government sources and many media houses quoted the success of KIA and MG and said that Ford's exit is not reflective of the automotive industry. Well that segment was once occupied by the likes of City, Rapid, Verna,Vento , then upwards of that Civic, Octavia, Corrolla, Elantra. Replacement of body style i.e. sedan with SUVs is not growth or success of new brands IMHO. The middle class-even the upper middle class their economic growth has stagnated in the sense that the growth of the amount on the paychecks has not kept up with the inflation in the past 20 years.

The truth is since the 1991 economic reforms, no significant economic reforms were undertaken by successive governments who were happy piggybacking results of those reforms and the growth was bound to taper off, in absence any other significant reforms after that. Until any other significant economic reforms happen soon cheers to rebadged Maruti Toyotas for another 10 years.

My first personal car which I still drive courtesy parents was a first gen Ford Figo Petrol Titanium-2013, forget upgrading a segment even retaining the same segment is a huge deal as an Alto nowadays costs the same or probably 50k less than what my Figo costed.

I have limited sympathy for Toyota in India. They have been absolutely lethargic in addressing their product portfolio and their market share in segments other than Innova and Fortuner were justifiably rejected by the market.

With the right engine spec, I think the Corolla Altis could still have retained its share of loyalists. Fact is they released it with absolutely dead engine options for its segment.

I don’t even want to mention their offerings below the Altis. Each one more underwhelming and unexciting than the next and look a decade behind the times to their competitors even at launch (think Etios, Liva and to some extent perhaps the Yaris although that was a little closer to its chief competitor - the City).

It refuses to take the plunge and get its own plusher offerings which are available globally. Try launching a RAV 4 hybrid at 45L OTR and I am sure it will have its takers. Price adjust the Camry to about 42-45L OTR (with plusher interiors that look closer to the Superb) and watch it demolish that segment. Not everyone wants a 40-45L body on frame Fortuner and not everyone has the appetite for a petrol Skoda like the Kodiaq. Bring proper competitite offerings (both on price and look & feel) and there will be enough takers.

Refuses to set up assembly in India for the Camry and commit more numbers and a better price to the product. I still refuse to believe that the Camry can only be retailed as a 50 lakh OTR car (and with the kind of interiors it offers) if a BMW can retail its 3 series at exactly the same price).

Yaris a completely waste of time and money from Toyota. If this was the plan, why didn't they re badge the Ciaz from day 1? Also, isn't the Ciaz too old now?
Sorry, disagree with the premise of your post. A market shouldn't evolve to attract a brand, the brand should evolve to be successful in a market.

Urban India is densely populated and heavily congested to be driving the king of large crossovers, SUVs, and trucks the Ford (Ford exited Japan) or GM specialize in. Indian road conditions are harsher, so VW has to design better, more robust parts.

In the same note, McDonalds can't expect to sell beef & pork burgers and gain acceptance from the masses. They have to adapt to India and sell more chicken, veggie, and egg patty burgers.

Sure, enthusiasts want proper Toyota designed and built cars. It is not that Toyota does not have good products in its portfolio, blame the market or their inability to tailor their products for us - I still feel this is better than winding down their business and going away. This gives them time to understand the market and also to develop new generation vehicles (EV etc.). At least we know Toyota is trying to stay. I worry about Honda. I feel Honda wont last long unless they bring products that click instantly with our masses.

And thats exactly the adaption Suzuki/Hyundai have done. Cheap cheerful cars with relatively low emphasis on safety even in their most expensive models and lots of features.

I agree with an earlier poster, our GDP hasnt grown enough and our middle class do not have enough money to be able to drive the volumes for global models here.

Its really funny when people who could easily afford the overpriced Toyotas went ahead and bought other cars, but are preaching the masses to buy Toyota hatchbacks and entry level sedans so that the company can milk Indians even more. Maybe those who are blaming the aam junta and the govt. policies can declare the cars they have and why they did/did not give their money to Toyota.

I have owned a Camry in the US like most Desis there I lost all respect for them when they launched the Etios with the center console and claimed that is for safety of Indians.

Toyota could have easily transferred the crazy margins on Innova to price the Yaris sensibly. They could have put a decent engine in the Corolla. They do have a huge portfolio of cars globally which they could have introduced here at reasonable prices.

For those blaming Maruti, whats stopping Toyota to disrupt the market with super safe cars at a reasonable price? Didnt they play the pricing game in the US/Europe in the 70s and 80s? They are a mass brand but somehow, in India, they wanted to play the luxury brand ( only on price though ).

I am not sure why there is so much sympathy for Toyota. The reason Yaris failed is because the Indian public aren't as much of a sheep as in the Gulf or SE Asia where the Yaris is popular. The Honda City, Hyundai Verna and even the VW twins are better than the Yaris in almost every aspect, so Toyota just hoped that Indians would buy the Yaris because of the Toyota badge even though the car itself was inferior. Regarding comments on build quality/reliability etc, I've seen no survey which says that the Yaris is more reliable or safer than the Verna or City. In the end of the day, the Yaris just wasn't as good a car as its rivals but was priced on a premium, so Indians weren't ready to look past that just because it has a Toyota logo. Offcourse, Indians did buy the Ciaz because put simply, Maruti is the Toyota in India.

If Toyota was serious, they should've brought in their competent products in international markets like the Yaris Cross and Corolla Cross and I'm sure these will sell well if priced right.

While I largely agree with the other part that you have stated in your post, I would beg to differ a bit here. Yes, Renault-Nissan are trying to compete with Maruti in the low priced segment. But their products are not unsafe as compared to Maruti. Kiger, Triber, Magnite all scored 4* safety rating, which no other car from Maruti’s stable in the same price band achieved. The USP of these cars are awesome space management(Triber). Providing 100 BHP turbo petrol engined cars and giving an option of CVT; having option of 4 airbags or advanced passive safety features. They do have modern looking exterior & interior. They are ahead of Maruti in most of these aspects & they have done all these while keeping the price in check. A lot of other manufacturers failed to do the same and as a result are not able to keep up with the competitive market & perishing. Instead of blaming the market, they could rather learn from this model of Renault-Nissan while giving a even better engine/ dynamics.

Well it is one of the safest cars around.

And why would they? Or on the contrary how do you know they did not?

Please define a decent engine? Also again how do you know they could have? Do you know their R&D process, their financials? Which company wont want to succeed if they think they could?

Well Etios was cheap and safe both but as a company you would have to cut corners somewhere to sell at a price with reliability of a Toyota mind you and I thought they cut corner in the interiors. They did not want to play a luxury brand, our buying power or rather lack of it makes them seem like a luxury brand.