The Hindu Business Line : Toyota Kirloskar asks parent co to send more Camrys

Looking ahead
Rejigs variants of Innova by introducing more seven-seater cars.
Innova will now have seven diesel variants and three petrol variants.
Totally, there will be six eight-seater variants and four seven-seater variants.

Bangalore , May 16

Toyota Kirloskar has asked its parent in Japan to increase the supply of Camrys to India as it has been unable to keep up to the surge in demand in the country.

In another development, Toyota has rejigged the variants of its largest selling vehicle, Innova, by introducing more seven-seater cars to overcome the taxi tag for its vehicles.

"We have a surplus demand that will stretch over the next three months. We are in touch with Toyota Motor Corporation to allocate more Camrys to India," Toyota Kirloskar Motor' Director for Marketing, Mr T. Ino, told Business Line. He said since its launch in March this year, the new Camry has sold a record 260 units.

In 2005, Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold a total of 794 units. The company has sold 2,200 Camrys so far. Camry is a D Segment car and is imported as a completely built unit kit.

Huge demand

"Due to the huge demand for the new Camry worldwide, we were able to supply only 165 units in March and 92 units in April," Mr Ino said. He said worldwide, the new Camry has sold nearly 40,000 units in the US alone in a single month of April. Mr Ino said the new Camry is a completely new generation vehicle.

The exterior has been completely redesigned withnew features such as plasma cluster technology air-conditioners, which eliminate germs in the air. The latest version also delivers more power than the older version. The price of the new Camry ranges from Rs 19.83 lakh to 21.45 lakh. The older Camry costs around Rs 1 lakh less.

Sources said the top variants of Innova will now have seven-seater options. As per the new line-up, Innova will now have seven diesel variants and three petrol variants. Earlier, there were five diesel and five petrol variants.

The top end model of Innova, the V grade, will have two more eight-seater variants following customers' demand for more seats in the top end model.

At the entry level, however, the E model will have a seven-seater variant to make it easier for corporates to buy Innova for their employees sidestepping the taxi tag that eight-seater cars attract in certain States. Totally, there will be six eight-seater variants and four seven-seater variants.