Toyota’s first made-for-India models, Etios sedan and Liva hatchback, which were launched with much fanfare four years ago, are seeing sharp decline in sales even after several upgrades and addition of newer features.

During the last three years, the combined sales of Etios and Liva slipped from 73,831 in 2012 to 59,982 in 2013 and further to 35,014 units (till September), clearly showing that the decline has been swift and sharp.

Latest upgrades The latest upgraded models which were launched last week have a completely new front grill and far better interiors including air bags for both the driver as well as the passenger seats across all grades. The company’s Director and Senior Vice-President for sales and marketing, N Raja, told BusinessLine that through these upgrades, Toyota hopes to cast the net wider. “Our effort now is to get more customers to experience it,” Raja said.

He pointed out that when Etios and Liva were introduced in 2010, target customers were the youth but now the company also wants to focus on quality-driven customers and rural segments. An official with Toyota had earlier said that the Etios and Liva compete in extremely tough segments where the choice is wider and car makers offer models at different prices. Etios has a market share of 4.6 per cent, while Liva has 3.7 per cent after a four year grind in a market dominated by Maruti’s Swift Dzire and Swift hatchback. Raja said that since the launch of Etios in 2010, Toyota has been regularly introducing upgrades, limited editions and variants keeping up with the changed market and ever changing customer needs. However, Toyota was unable to reach the 10 per cent market share by 2010 it had hoped it would when it started operations in 1998.

Market position According to market reports, the car maker’s current market share is slightly over 5 per cent. Toyota did not give market share of its Indian operations. As of March 31, 2014, its total sales was 1,28,811 units, about 22 per cent less than the previous year.

An auto analyst with a consulting firm who did not want to be named said that Toyota should have launched Etios as well as Liva at price points which were extremely competitive and introduced far more features when they were launched.

He also said that the car maker should have launched several models in the Indian market by now.

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