Toyota Etios and Liva cars set sail for South Africa

In line with its aim of exporting 20,000 cars to South Africa this fiscal year, Toyota Kirloskar Motor's first batch of cars sailed from Ennore Port.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has begun exports of its made-in-India Etios saloon and EtiosLiva hatchback to South Africa. The first batch of around 900 petrol-engined cars left Ennore Port on April 4 on a six-day journey. The export model will be built on the same platform as the India-market Etios and EtiosLiva but customised to suit local requirements.

Present at the export ceremony were VikramKirloskar, vice-chairman, TKM, Hiroshi Nakagawa, MD, TKM, Vicente Socco, EVP, Toyota Motor Asia Pacific (TMAP), Takashi Sakai, EVP, Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM), other government officials and dignitaries from Toyota.

The Japanese manufacturer has set itself a target of exporting 20,000 cars to South Africa this fiscal. “At present, the targets can easily be met,” says Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director (marketing), TKM. The cars will be sold via the 198 dealers in South Africa, priced at around 116,000 Rand (Rs 7.56 lakh), including a service plan, for the entry level model. The Liva, christened the Etios Hatchback there, will be sold in the sub-B segment and will compete with the Ford Figo. The Etios saloon will be placed in the B segment.

At present, Toyota does not plan to export the diesel models of these cars. In terms of modifications, there have been very few changes. CalvynHamman, senior VP, sales and marketing, TSAM, says that since the road conditions in South Africa are very good, the cars have been modified suitably for high-speed driving. “In South Africa, we regularly drive at speeds of around 120-160kph on the highways; so there have been some changes to the suspension to that effect,” he added.

Singh says that Ennore Port was chosen ahead of Chennai Port due to its proximity to TKM’s Bangalore plant and also because “the management has been very cooperative and the facilities here are good.” Each ship can carry around 5,000 cars in its 14 decks with each floor holding 700-800 cars. Given that Ennore Port is being used by both Nissan and Ford to export the Micra and Figo respectively to South Africa, the ships carry cars by all three manufacturers.

Toyota already sells two hatchbacks, the Aygo and the Yaris, in South Africa. With the Aygo being a ‘hot-hatch’ of sorts and the Yaris being a more relaxed car, the Etios Hatchback will be positioned in between these two models, Hamman says. “I expect this car to be a hit among pensioners and senior citizens,” Hamman adds. He says that the market there isn’t segmented based on age but on income levels.

Toyota has an 18.5 percent market share in SA and aims to take that “to the right side of 20 percent” by the end of this fiscal. Hiroshi Nakagawa, MD, TKM, remarks that he is very happy with the Etios platform. “The platform is very good. There are no plans to add another model on the same platform,” he says.

The numbers corroborate this claim. TKM has sold more than 80,000 Etios saloons and hatchbacks in India since their launch and the diesel versions have boosted those numbers very well. Still, Sandeep Singh says that Toyota is one of the few manufacturers in India to enjoy a high percentage of sales of its petrol-run models. “28 percent of our sales are petrol models – one of the highest among carmakers in India,” he says.

Looking at the rest of the year, Singh says that the new Camry will be launched in August, production for which will begin in the Bangalore plant in July. “As of now, Camry production has been halted,” he adds. The new Camry will be assembled in India and “the price plan was affected by the Budget.”

He adds that Toyota will soon add around 35 new dealers, mostly in semi-urban areas like Salem, Tirupur, Asansol and Bharuch, expanding the existing 173-dealer network to around 225 dealers by end-2012.

The company is also investing Rs 500 crore in its engine and transmission plant to expand capacity to 100,000 units. With the current localisation levels being around 70 percent, Toyota’s aim, with this plant, is to improve this number to around 90 percent.

KARTHIK H