Toyota Yaris Ativ IN, Etios OUT

Toyota will not build a second generation Etios. Instead, the company will launch the Yaris Ativ as the Etios’ replacement. The Yaris Ativ is a sedan version of the Yaris hatchback,and has been selling in Thailand for the last 2 months. The Etios will be phased out by 2020, according to report on HinduBusinessline. In India now, more cab operators than family car buyers opt for the Etios, and the car is losing popularity to compact sedans.

Apart from the Etios, there is no other car in the sedan segment that is in between compact sedans and the larger C-Segment sedans. So it makes for Toyota to kill the Etios and replace it with something larger,or shorten it to meet the sub-4 meter length required by compact sedans.

The Vios may also not be brought into India as that place will now be taken by the Yaris Atiq. In the Thai market, the Yaris Atiq is sold as a cheaper alternate to the Nissan Sunny, Honda City and Suzuki Ciaz. If the same strategy is carried out in India, Toyota has the chance to attract sedan buyers with something that’s good looking and contemporary, things that the Etios was not.

The Yaris Atiq is powered by a 87 Bhp, 1.2 liter petrol engine in the Thai market. It gets a CVT automatic gearbox. The 1.2 liter engine gives Toyota an option of shortening this car and making it a Maruti Dzire rival in the compact sedan segment.

Presently, the Yaris Atiq is not sold with a diesel engine option as the Thai market prefers petrol engines in budget sedans, with diesels reserved mainly for pick up trucks and commercial vehicles. For the Indian market, Toyota has the 1.4 liter D4D engine in two states of tune, operating in the Etios (67 Bhp-170 Nm) and Corolla Altis (89 Bhp-200 Nm). It can pull out one of these states of tune for the Yaris Atiq, depending on where it positions the new car.