“INTRODUCING THE
BRAND NEW
PLATINUM ETIOS”

Your friend on every journey!

Summary

Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. In 2017, Toyota's corporate structure consisted of 364,445 employees worldwide and, as of September 2018, was the sixth-largest company in the world by revenue. As of 2017, Toyota is the world's second-largest automotive manufacturer. Toyota was the world's first automobile manufacturer to produce more than 10 million vehicles per year which it has done since 2012 when it also reported the production of its 200-millionth vehicle. As of July 2014, Toyota was the largest listed company in Japan by market capitalization (worth more than twice as much as number 2-ranked SoftBank) and by revenue.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd is a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan (with Kirloskar Group as a minority owner), for the manufacture and sales of Toyota cars in India. It is currently the fourth largest car maker in India after Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, and Mahindra.

Harsha Toyota - Placing customer satisfaction first, Integrating sales with service and service parts in a single convenient location, we contribute to speedy and efficient service, allowing customers to experience the convenience and pleasure of owning Toyota automobile.

Challenge

An obvious question is why this a big deal? It boils down to the inchoate space of consumer sentiment. The private car owner feels disadvantaged when driven around in cars that are being sold as taxis. Research carried out by Toyota in India also corroborated the finding that the most important challenge for Etios was to break free of the taxi-image.

The other reality of the car-category is that amidst all the hype and hoopla around the changing consumer car ownership behavior and increased use of Uber/Ola, this segment of ‘not owning a car by choice’ is still a small percentage.

Insights

Designed to deliver and built to outlast, the new Platinum Etios comes with both, ideal performance and surpassed quality. From advanced features to ample space, the new Platinum Etios is thoughtfully crafted for utmost comfort. From the wooden gear shift knob to the panache of the glass and ivory seat covers, there are more ways than one to accessorize your Etios.

Solution

Conventional wisdom dictates selling more products equals more profits and translates into a happy company. But not all the time. A classic case is Etios, Toyota’s ‘made for India’ brand launched in 2010 with much fanfare. Now, 6 years later, while Etios is the second largest selling brand in the Japanese car maker's India portfolio (Innova being the first), it is also one of the most challenging. “The initial bookings for the product were good but they waned away due to customer expectations not being met well, for a host of reasons.” Today the challenge for Etios comes from a rather unusual predicament - its predominance in the fleet-segment. Currently, over 60% of the Etios sales come from the fleet and that is at the cost of reduced preference amongst personal car buyers, a skew which Toyota has been trying to correct for a while. Towards this end, the makers have recently launched Platinum Etios as a family car, eager to lure a more premium audience.

Outdoor Strategy

After all, it is not for nothing has the Indian consumer has earned the moniker of the toughest customer by most global auto brands. He wants a combination of functionality, strong design aesthetics and bells and whistles all in one, and yes at a great price too. And a car that’s popular – since fretting about spare parts is a major concern area – but not so popular that it's ubiquitous. Matching these diverse expectations is a tall order. The race is now on to see who reaches the Platinum Etios first: the consumer or fleet owners.