Toyota Kirloskar Motors Ltd., the Indian subsidiary of Toyota, has today announced that the launch of Liva, hatchback version of Etios sedan, has been postponed by two month. The Liva hatchback will now be launched in June 2011, instead of April as announced earlier. The Etios sedan has received such a good response from Indian buyers that company is facing backlog. So, it has decided to double the production of Etios to a minimum of 5,000 units every month from April.
In a statement, released to the press, Toyota Kirloskar Motors Ltd. Deputy Managing Director, Mr Sandeep Singh said, and we quote, — “We thank our customers for the response we have received for the Etios and also for the patience shown through the waiting period. We would also like to sincerely apologize, to people eagerly awaiting the hatchback – Etios Liva, for the postponement of the launch. We will do everything we can to limit inconvenience caused to our customers.”
According to the company’s statement, because of huge demand for Etios sedan the waiting period for the model has become 4-6 months. So, Toyota Kirloskar has planned to fulfill its commitment to existing customers on priority basis.
“Hence, to clear the order backlog, we have decided to postpone the launch of Liva by about two months,” Mr Sandeep Singh said.
According to the original plan the company was to begin production of the Liva hatchback by Feb-March and utilise a second shift to do that. Now, it seems that the company will utilise the second shift to produce more Etios and bring down the waiting period to ease customer retention.
As part of the new plan, the company will now enhance Etios output to a minimum of 5,000 units from the existing about 2,500 units per month, Singh said.
