Toyota Fortuner races past 1 lakh sales mark in India

Toyota Kirloskar Motor today announced that the company has sold over one lakh units of its Toyota Fortuner premium SUV in India.

The all-new Fortuner, which was recently launched at Rs 25.92 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), has further contributed to its growth and helped Toyota up its ante in the premium SUV segment in India.

Expressing his view on achieving this milestone, N Raja, director and senior vice president, Marketing and Sales, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, “Being able to serve more than one lakh happy customers in such a premium and competitive segment, is a huge achievement for us. This would not have been possible without the support of our customers who have appreciated the product so much.”

“The new Fortuner also has received an overwhelming response from the market. With over 6,000 booking orders within the first few weeks of its launch, we sold close to 2,000 units of the new Fortuner last month clocking more than 80% growth when compared to the numbers sold in the corresponding period in 2015. We still have close to 5,000 pending orders which we are trying to deliver to our customers at the earliest possible,” explained Raja.

Toyota Kirloskar is gunning for a 5-10 percent share accruing from the petrol portfolio of the Fortuner. It expects these sales to come mainly from the metros, Delhi-NCR and Kerala. It may be recollected that the eight-month Supreme Court ban on above 2.0-litre diesel cars in Delhi-NCR and Kerala had severely impacted TKM’s sales. While the ban has been lifted, TKM prefers to play safe now entering the market with an alternative petrol variant.

“Ever since its launch in India in 2009, the Fortuner has done exceptionally well and has been a leader in its segment. The Fortuner’s wide spread popularity is its testimony to the fact that it is a value for money product. The cost of ownership of the vehicle is also low when compared to other vehicles in its segment. The Fortuner also enjoys a high resale value due to the proven and admired mettle of the vehicle. We are confident that with the all-new second generation Fortuner, we will be able to further build the brand’s success story in India as it has been resonating from global markets alike,” elaborated Raja.

During the festive season, TKM recorded good growth especially in the north and western parts of the country and with the new models the company is bullish of maintaining the same sales graph as last year. In 2015-16, TKM sold a total of 128,494 passenger vehicles, down 9 percent year on year. In the April-September 2016 period, the company has sold 71,982 units, a YoY growth of 4.46 percent. Despite the company announcing upto 3 percent price hike across its model range from January 2017, the new Fortuner is expected to give the company more wind in its sails. 

Also read: Toyota Kirloskar sells 11,309 units in November, up 10% YoY