Toyota’s Innova to get a makeover

Toyota Kirloskar is expected to completely overhaul Innova, the country’s largest selling MPV, and launch it with next gen features by next year.

The new MPV will be targeted only at the personal segment and will not be sold to the travel/taxi sector. The company is also looking at retaining the existing model of Innova for travel operators.

Sources in the company told BusinessLine that these changes are being undertaken through a project called the major model change (MMC).

Responding to a detailed questionnaire, Toyota Kirloskar’s Director and Senior Vice-President, Sales & Marketing, N Raja said: “As this concerns future product plans, we would like to refrain from commenting." The new Innova, which could also see a name change, will have more power, a newer styling and additional safety features and will be built on the multi-purpose vehicle platform with ladder frame set up.

Deloitte Consulting’s Senior Director Kumar Kandaswami said the demand for MPVs, especially for individual users, is growing as more of them use this mode of transport for inter-city travel.

Innova was launched in 2005 after Toyota’s earlier MPV model Qualis was phased out.

However, during the first few years of its launch, Innova’s variants as well as its pricing were changed a few times to get the positioning in the market right.

Innova now has a dozen variants and is priced between ₹11 lakh and ₹16 lakh. The new innova is expected to cost over ₹1 lakh more.

Nitesh Sharma, an auto analyst with PhillipCapital, a broking and financial firm, said the strategy to bifurcate the target segments was appropriate.

“This bifurcation strategy will actually help Toyota to grow its sales,” Sharma said.

He said products like Innova, which have been launched a decade ago develop brand fatigue, and hence, auto companies make some major changes to the model to keep the interest of the customers alive. There is also a possibility of Etios sedan as well as Liva hatchback undergoing a few minor changes.

Since its launch in 2005, Innova has sold a total of 5.43 lakh units and during 2014, constituted nearly 45 per cent of the total sales of all Toyota models sold in India.

In 2014-15, the car maker posted profit after being in the red for the previous three years, apart from clearing all the accumulated debt.

In 2013-14, TKM posted a loss of around ₹63 crore, while its net sales declined 11 per cent to ₹13,216 crore.

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