The Hindu Business Line : Toyota's drive at Executives

Toyota is celebrating the Corolla's four decades of global leadership. Commemorating this milestone, Toyota Kirloskar Motor India has launched a new variant of the sedan. The new Toyota Corolla Executive will be targeted at bringing the car within the reach of a wider section of customers looking for a premium family car.

Toyota has said that the new Executive variant is targeted at the huge segment of corporate customers who were till now shying away from buying the Corolla due to budget constraints.

The price of the new variant has been set within the Rs 9-lakh limit on corporate purchases made by senior- and middle-level executives.

The new Executive variant has been put together and launched just in time to capture the typical increase in demand in September by businessmen seeking to take advantage of depreciation benefits.

Mid-size shake up

The new variant is aimed at the highly competitive mid-size segment, which recently saw the launch of the Honda Civic. The segment grew 23 per cent last year and is expected to get a further boost this year too, both from sales of existing models and from new entrants. Further, competition could be on its way for Toyota from the Hyundai stable, with the launch of the Verna just weeks away.

The entry of the new Corolla variant into this segment is expected to offer the customer a premium product at a more affordable rate.

As a special anniversary offer, in line with the month-long celebrations in September, the Toyota Corolla Executive will be available for Rs 8.85 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The Corolla Executive comes with the state-of-art 1.8L VVT-i engine, which has already made a mark for itself with its smooth power delivery and superior torque.

The new Executive variant has no major deviations from the regular technical specifications of the H1 Corolla.

However, though equipped with ABS, the new variant comes without airbags and an audio system. A three-spoke steering wheel (instead of the five-spoke version) and steel wheels (instead of alloys) are the other changes in the new variant.

Toyota has said that the Corolla Executive is in response to a definite market need. Customers keen on buying the Corolla, which is known for its safety and reliability features, can now afford it without compromising on the core strengths of the product.

The Toyota Corolla, launched first in Japan in 1966, has retained the Best Seller tag for 36 of its 40 years. It has sold 31.64-million units across 149 countries since launch. In India, the 9th Generation Corolla has sold 30,000 units since launch in 2003.

Celebratory offers

As part of the celebrations commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Corolla, are offers on the other variants.

Toyota has announced offers on existing variants of the Corolla only for sale during September and this includes a reduced down payment scheme of up to Rs 40,000, in addition to a guaranteed gold coin, for all key variants of the Toyota Corolla.

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