The Etios Saloon Is Toyota's First Crack at India's Vital Mid-Size Segment. Has It Got It Right?

driVE Toyota Etios | Drive ETIOS ETHOS The Etios saloon is Toyota’s first crack at India’s vital mid-size segment. Has it got it right? STORY HORMAZD SORABJEE PHOTOGRAPHY ASHLEY BAXTER n the run-up to the launch of the Etios, keep everyone happy and offend no one, the levels of anxiousness within Toyota even if it’s at the risk of exciting very few. are at boiling point and have bubbled This is immediately apparent the first time up to the company’s highest echelons. you see the Etios. Toyota has never made a low-cost car Toyota has played safe with the Etios’ like the Etios before and it is either looks. The design and styling is well the company’s obsession to get it first-time proportioned and balanced, thanks to the I right or just a nagging fear of the unknown long wheelbase. But the design doesn’t that is causing it so much stress. break any new ground. The Etios grille The Etios is the cheapest car in Toyota’s is typically Toyota and the sharp curve universe and sets a new benchmark for gives it some character, along with the affordability by the world’s biggest car prominent creases on the bonnet. But company. This meant cutting costs without that’s about it. The small lights look quite denting Toyota’s formidable reputation tame as does the front bumper with a for quality and using the knife where the pair of tiny fogs. The side profile again customer can’t tell. But making a car that’s looks pretty anonymous but the crease built to a price is just the start. Toyota swooping up in the lower half of the has never ventured into this segment doors is a terrific touch. Also, the large before. It has no experience in dealing 15-inch wheels, standard on the V and with customers at the lower end of the VX versions, seriously improve the Etios’ market and if that isn’t tricky enough, stance. The rear is the least attractive there’s Maruti to contend with. Toyota bit and the vertical boot lid and large will, for the first time, compete head on triangular lights bear some resemblance to with India’s most successful car maker the Logan, which isn’t a good thing. The and let’s not discount Hyundai and Tata, same feedback was heard echoing around which won’t make the fight any easier. the Toyota stall in this year’s Auto Expo The prize, however, is the big pot of gold where the Etios made its debut. This sent near the bottom of the pyramid or a nice engineers back to the drawing board to see chunk of the estimated 250,000 per year what changes they could make at this late premium hatch and mid-size saloon stage, after the tooling was developed. Still, market combined. bits like the chrome strip on the boot lid, the side skirts and the silver-finished door PLAYING SAFE handles, which weren’t initially planned With such high stakes, Toyota knows it has for the production cars, were quickly to get it spot-on straight off, out of the box. incorporated. Toyota certainly listens! But with no past products or experience in this segment to draw from, Toyota ROOM TO KILL turned to those who knew this category If the exterior doesn’t bowl you over, the the best – the car owners themselves. It’s Etios’ interior certainly will, not least not a well-known fact that the Etios was because of the sheer space on offer. There conceived after intensive market research. is not a shadow of a doubt that the Etios Toyota asked everyone and his uncle what is the most comfortable car in its class. It they would like in a family hatchback makes the Dzire feel like a pigeonhole and and saloon. The feedback was collated, even the bigger Manza is eclipsed. The analysed and acted upon. The result is a rear seats with their large squabs, perfect car that’s been designed by consensus; to backrest angle and the right amount of ◊ 54 AUTOCAR INDIA DECEMBER 2010 www.autocarindia.com www.autocarindia.com DECEMBER 2010 AUTOCAR INDIA 55 DriVE Toyota Etios | Drive Etios looks well balanced and planted but styling is bland and ‘Every part of the Etios feels like it’s been doesn’t break any new ground. designed after painstaking deliberation.’ ∆ cushioning are supremely comfortable. with. The 13-litre glovebox is the biggest Even the height of the hip or ‘H-point’, I have seen. It can easily swallow a big which guarantees a good sitting posture, purse or a laptop and can be cooled too has been perfectly fine-tuned. If there is which is well. quite cool. There are seven one criticism, it’s the flat design of the back full-sized cupholders so you can throw a seat which doesn’t have deep contours to drinks party inside, if you’re not driving of hold you snugly. But there’s a reason for course! The 595-litre boot is so large that that. The Etios is a genuine five-seater. you could probably hear your echo inside The rear seat is remarkably wide to easily there. It can take five pretty large bags with accommodate three people but what makes space left over for smaller stuff. The seats, it even better for the middle passenger is however, don’t flip or fold. a near-flat floor tunnel which intrudes by Coming back to the driver’s seat, I only two inches into the cabin. find the raised driving position terrific. The front seats with just the perfect However, taller drivers might have a amount of padding are again the most problem as the steering wheel, even after comfortable I have sat in. They are adjustment, is a touch too low. But I have perfectly contoured to give the right no such issues. Outside visibility is simply amount of support to your lower back excellent, thanks to the slim and tucked- and thighs. The tall, fixed head restraints back A-pillar and the centrally mounted look like skyscrapers but Toyota is instrument cluster doesn’t get in the way planning to provide adjustable restraints either like in the Indica Vista. In fact, the at a later stage. centre console is probably the boldest It’s not just the seats that are generous. styling element in the Etios. The white The Etios has more space for luggage back lighting for the semi-circular dials and other stuff than you know what to do looks terrific and quite unique. ◊ Steering-mounted audio controls standard on VX version but no power mirrors; large bottle holders for every door. Leather, flat bottom steering very sporty. 13-litre glovebox biggest yet and it’s cooled. Dashboard is unique, very functional and Etios has good power-to-weight ratio, design highlight of the Etios. Note twin thanks to its incredibly light weight. vents for effective cooling at the rear. Red gear knob stands out but is a bit flashy. 56 AUTOCAR INDIA DECEMBER 2010 www.autocarindia.com www.autocarindia.com DECEMBER 2010 AUTOCAR INDIA 57 Drive | Toyota Etios driVE TALKING TO YOSHINORI NORITAKE, the Etios’ chief engineer This balance is very difficult for us to achieve and though we have manufactured many types of high-technology vehicles like the Lexus, it’s been with high costs. It’s the low cost and good-quality technology that is more difficult to achieve. This was a big challenge for Toyota. So is it about optimising everything for the Etios without giving unnecessary tech? Yes. We have Toyota global standards that Captions: xxxxxx xxxxxx jkdjfkdjfkdxxxxxx. we always conform to all over the world but if you see vehicles like the Corolla and the Innova, which are made to global standards, there are many components that are “To design a vehicle with low cost and exaggerated and wasted because they don’t good quality was a challenge for Toyota.” serve any functional purpose and only add to the cost. For example, the climate is different What have you learnt about India that’s all over the world. In India the lowest gone into the Etios? temperature drop is -5 to -10deg C but for the As soon as I was appointed the chief engineer global standards we have to engineer parts in 2006 for the Etios, I visited India. I was that will work in even -30 to -40deg Celcius. surprised to see the traffic jams, pollution Components like the starter, alternator and rough road conditions, even the high fuel or HVAC system need to be engineered to prices. Everything was very surprising for operate at that temperature but that would me but all these issues were very important be a waste for India. for customer requirements in India. The idea ∆ Also unique and clever is the way 595-litre boot was to develop a vehicle based on these What in your view are the most important Toyota has approached the task of keeping bigger than requirements. factors for the Indian customer? passengers in the rear nice and cool. An Corolla’s; 1.5-litre There are five key points – mileage, lots of extra vent in the centre is aimed at the engine has broad What was the biggest challenge when interior space and good storage space, a rear seat and it really works. The throw torque spread. you designed the Etios? Was it cost? very futuristic and attractive design, comfort of the air-con is so strong that it chills the Yes, the brief was to develop a vehicle at in rough road conditions, and lastly safety back seat area within seconds.

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